Hurricane Oscar, Tropical Storm Nadine Threaten Bahamas, Cuba, Mexico

WASHINGTON, Oct 20 (Bernama-UPI) -- Two new tropical storms were named Saturday and one quickly developed into a hurricane as the deadly 2024 storm season continued to churn across the Atlantic, Caribbean and Gulf of Mexico, United Press International (UPI) reported.

Oscar was named as a tropical storm early Saturday and by mid-afternoon it was upgraded to a hurricane by the National Hurricane Centre with maximum sustained winds of 80 mph. It was moving westerly at 12 mph while positioned 160 miles east-southeast of the southeastern Bahamas.

The government of the Bahamas has issued a hurricane warning for the Turks and Caicos Islands and the southeastern Bahamas.

Meanwhile, the government of Cuba has issued a hurricane watch for the provinces of Guantanamo, Holguin, and Las Tunas.

Some additional strengthening is possible today before gradual weakening begins early next week, UPI reported the NHC said.

The agency also is tracking Tropical Storm Nadine, which is located 20 miles west-northwest of Belize City and 65 miles southwest of Chetumal, Mexico, as of 2 pm EDT.

Nadine had maximum sustained winds of 50 mph and was moving westerly at 8 mph.

Nadine could cause localised areas of flash flooding and triggered storm warnings along portions of the coasts of Belize and Mexico's Yucatan Peninsula.

The NHC says Nadine has a 90 per cent chance of strengthening.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration predicted between 17 and 24 named storms for the 2024 Atlantic Hurricane season, including four classified as major hurricanes of at least Category 3, which has sustained winds of between 111 and 130 mph.

So far, 13 named storms have formed with nine developing into hurricanes and four into major hurricanes.

The four major hurricanes include Hurricane Helene, which made landfall in Florida on Sept. 26, and Hurricane Milton, which made landfall in Florida on Oct 9.

Both storms caused widespread destruction and death with Helene ravaging much of the southeastern United States and Milton crossing Florida from west to east.

-- BERNAMA-UPI