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USA: Tropical storm causes damages in Georgia, Florida

Dunya News

Tropical storm Beryl disrupts Memorial Day holiday plans for vacationers in the state of Georgia.

Tropical Storm Beryl cut a soggy path across the US southeast on Monday after swirling ashore in Florida.The second named storm of the 2012 Atlantic hurricane season lashed the East Coast from north Florida to southern parts of North Carolina, and created a risk of flooding inland, even after it was downgraded to a tropical depression late Monday morning.Strong winds downed trees and power lines in Jacksonville, Florida. It also forced many people to cancel their Memorial day holiday plans.Beryls top sustained winds had dropped to 30 miles per hour (48 kph) and its center was 150 miles (241 km) southwest of Savannah, Georgia.Little change in strength was expected over the next 48 hours. But the storm, targeting parts of Georgia, South Carolina and North Carolina, was forecast to dump as much as 4 to 8 inches (10 to 20 cm) of rain, in some areas, the hurricane center said.It said some locations could be hit with as much as 12 inches of rain (30 cm) as the storm moved north-northwest at 5 miles per hour (8 kph).Beryl peaked near hurricane strength as it made landfall shortly after midnight near Jacksonville Beach, Florida, packing winds of 70 mph (113 kph). That was just shy of the 74 mph (119 kph) threshold that would have made it a Category 1 hurricane on the five-step Saffir-Simpson intensity scale.Computer forecast models show Beryl moving on an eventual path back out over the Atlantic.Fortunately, no storm-related deaths or serious injuries had been confirmed by late Monday afternoon.The Atlantic hurricane season officially starts on June 1.