TAMPA — Tropical Storm Marco has continued to strengthen as it moves across the Gulf of Mexico and could become a hurricane by the time it reaches Louisiana’s shores on Monday, according to the latest forecast from the National Hurricane Center.
Tagging along behind, Tropical Storm Laura was expected to reach the island of Hispaniola on Sunday.
Both were projected to strengthen into hurricanes in the Gulf of Mexico and make back-to-back landfalls in Louisiana early next week. Never in recorded history have two hurricanes torn through the Gulf at the same time as as Laura and Marco threaten to do..
Tropical Storm Marco was expected to become Hurricane Marco early Monday and make landfall near Louisiana in the afternoon as a Category 1 storm. Tropical Storm Laura was forecast to become a Category 1 hurricane on Tuesday and reach the Louisiana coast Wednesday afternoon.
Laura brought 45 mph winds, torrential rains and life-threatening flooding early Sunday to Haiti and the Dominican Republic on the island of Hispaniola as it traveled toward Cuba. By 9 a.m. Sunday, Laura was about 40 miles off the coast of Port au Prince, traveling northwest at about 18 miles per hour.
Following this track, the center of Tropical Storm Laura should pass over Hispaniola and reach Cuba by Sunday night or early Monday morning, National Hurricane Center forecaster Daniel Brown said. The storm is expected to move over the southeastern Gulf on Monday night and early Tuesday.
The storm could dump up to one foot of rain on Hispaniola and Cuba today, carrying the potential to cause mudslides as well as flash flooding and urban flooding, Brown said. The National Weather Service has issued a Tropical Storm Watch for the Bahamas and parts of the Florida Keys, from Ocean Reef to Key West and the Dry Tortugas including Florida Bay.
Those areas can expect one to three inches of rain today as Laura brushes past.
Though it won’t strike Florida directly, bands from Laura could increase the chance of rain and tornadoes for Tampa Bay on Monday and Tuesday, according to National Weather Service meteorologist Rick Davis.
Forecasters also issued a Hurricane Watch for the Louisiana coastline, from Morgan City to the mouth of the Pearl River, as Tropical Storm Marco creeps towards the northern end of the Gulf Coast at 13 mph.
Marco is expected to achieve hurricane strength by the time it reaches southeastern Louisiana on Monday, National Hurricane Center forecaster Andrew Latto said. By Sunday morning, Marco was carrying sustained winds of about 70 mph, with higher gusts extending up to 60 miles away from its center.
Those winds are expected to weaken once the storm moves inland, Latto said. Marco is on track to curve to the west Monday night, slowing as it moves across southern Louisiana into eastern Texas.
The last time two storms made landfall in the U.S. within 24 hours of each other was in September 1933, during the Great Depession. The Cuba–Brownsville hurricane struck Cuba and then made its way to Brownsville, Texas
At the same time, a tropical storm landed at Cedar Key after hitting the Treasure Coast as a hurricane, slamming Jupiter, passing by Tampa, entering the Gulf waters and curving north.
Times staff writer Josh Fiallo contributed to this report.
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2020 Tampa Bay Times Hurricane Guide
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NEED TO KNOW: Click here to find your evacuation zone and shelter
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