Street Flooding Reported in Clearwater Beach Area

CLEARWATER, FL — Tropical Storm Hermine hasn’t even technically arrived in Florida and she’s already causing trouble. According to the city of Clearwater, heavy rains and high tide have combined to create street flooding Thursday afternoon.

Motorists are being asked to avoid the Clearwater Beach area due to the minor flooding.

“Several streets in the Clearwater Beach area have become impassable due to high water,” the city wrote in an email to media just before 1 p.m.

It is unclear how long flooding issues will remain a concern.

See also: Tropical Storm Hermine Speeds Up On Way to Florida, Could Become Hurricane

Tropical Storm Hermine was located about 220 miles west of Tampa at 11 a.m. Thursday. The storm was packing maximum sustained winds of 65 mph and was moving on a north-northeast track at 14 mph.

As of Thursday morning, hurricane center forecasters anticipated Tropical Storm Hermine would gain hurricane strength before making landfall somewhere in Florida's Big Bend area late Thursday or early Friday.

Tropical storm force winds are extending outward from the storm up to 140 miles to the east and southeast of the center, forecasters at the National Hurricane Center say.

On its present track, Tropical Storm Hermine is expected to cut across northern Florida Friday before heading toward Georgia and South Carolina.

Patch file photo