Tropical Storm Eta was nearing Cuba overnight, where it's expected to make landfall Sunday morning and produce "life-threatening" flash flooding before threatening Florida, per the National Hurricane Center.
The state of play: Eta was forecast to regain strength later Sunday and "could be near hurricane strength as it approaches and moves near or over Florida," warned the NHC. Hurricane watches were issued for Florida's coast from Deerfield Beach to Bonita Beach and for the Florida Keys.
- Eta was moving 125 miles west-southwest of Camaguey, Cuba, packing maximum sustained winds of 65 mph and was forecast to produce "dangerous storm surge, flash floods and strong winds" over parts of Cuba and Florida.
- The storm was expected to bring 5-10 inches of rain to Cuba, while parts of Florida were expected to get 5-10 inches of rainfall, with isolated areas seeing up to 15 inches of rain, per NHS.
Of note: In anticipation of Eta's arrival, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis declared a state of emergency in eight southern counties on Saturday "out of an abundance of caution."
The big picture: Eta made landfall in Nicaragua as a Category 4 hurricane on Tuesday.
- It brought torrential rains to parts of Central America, including Guatemala, where rescue crews continued their search on Saturday for over 100 people believed to be buried by mudslides.
- Eta weakened to a tropical depression before regaining tropical storm strength earlier on Saturday as it lashed parts of the Cayman Islands and Jamaica earlier.
Editor's note: This article has been updated with more details on the storm.
