MIAMI - Southeast Florida came under a storm warning on Thursday as Tropical Storm Noel edged northward off the peninsula's Atlantic coast after dumping days of torrential rain in the Caribbean and killing at least 91 people.
The storm had grown in size and some of its outer winds could reach coastal areas of Miami and Fort Lauderdale, U.S. forecasters said, but the worst of its fury was expected to rumble over the northwestern Bahamas as strong westerly winds carried Noel eventually to the northeast.
The storm's winds were "close enough to the Florida coast that any deviation to the left of the forecast track would bring them on to the Florida coast," hurricane expert Jack Beven at the U.S. National Hurricane Center wrote in a report.
"Thus a tropical storm warning is being issued at this time for the immediate coastal area of Miami-Dade and Broward counties."
A tropical storm warning means tropical storm conditions with top sustained winds of at least 39 miles per hour (63 km per hour) can be expected within 24 hours.
Noel's top winds were holding steady at 60 mph (95 kph) by 8 a.m. EDT (1200 GMT), and it was projected to reach a peak intensity over the Bahamas just short of the 74 mph (119 kph) wind speed level at which tropical storms become hurricanes.
TRAIL OF DESTRUCTION
The storm left a trail of waterlogged destruction and death in the Caribbean after slamming the Dominican Republic, Haiti and Cuba with unrelenting downpours.
