Tropical Storm Charley becomes Hurricane Charley - Florida cautious![]()
MIAMI, Florida (CNN) -- Residents across the state of Florida are keeping tabs on weather reports Thursday as two storms threaten to pound the northern and southern parts of the state with heavy rains and hurricane-force winds.
Tropical Storm Bonnie continues to move steadily toward the state's Panhandle beaches, although it has lost some of its power. Hurricane Charley has become stronger as it eyes the Cayman Islands, before moving into warmer waters on its way toward the Gulf of Mexico.
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Forecasters at the National Hurricane Center predict Bonnie will hit the Panhandle sometime Thursday afternoon and Charley could cross over the Florida Keys Thursday night.
Visitors were ordered to leave the western Florida Keys as Charley passed south of Jamaica on Wednesday.
"Much of the state of Florida is going to experience some impact from both Bonnie and Charley," said Max Mayfield, director of the National Hurricane Center in Miami.
An Air Force plane flew into the storm and determined that Bonnie has weakened slightly and continued to disorganize, according to the weather center's 2 a.m. update.
The storm was about 240 miles southwest of Apalachicola, Florida, with top sustained winds at 50 mph. Moving northeast at 12 mph, Bonnie is expected to pick up speed over the next 24 hours, the hurricane center reported. (Map: Bonnie's predicted path)
Forecasters posted a hurricane warning from Destin, Florida, to the mouth of the Suwanee River. Hurricane watches and tropical storm warnings extended west from Destin to the Alabama state line, and forecasters warned of flooding as already-saturated Panhandle counties face four to six additional inches of rainfall.
The Navy on Wednesday took steps to protect aircraft at its flight training bases around Pensacola, moving 83 training jets and helicopters to several airfields at inland cities such as St. Louis, Dallas and Atlanta. No ships have yet been moved out of the way of the impending storms, Navy officials said.
Charley
At 2 a.m. Thursday, Charley gained strength as it heads toward the Cayman Islands, with top wind speeds at 85 mph. The storm is still a Category 1 hurricane centered about 165 miles (265 km) east-southeast of Grand Cayman, moving west-northwest at 15 mph (23 km/h).
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Mayfield said its winds would pick up as it entered warmer waters near Cuba and the southeastern Gulf of Mexico. (Map: Charley's predicted path)
Rainfall amounts of 3 to 6 inches are forecast.
Hurricane warnings remained in effect for Jamaica and the Cayman Islands, while western Cuba, the Florida Keys and a 200-mile stretch of Florida's west coast south of St. Petersburg were under a hurricane watch.
"People need to start paying very close attention and making their preparations now," Mayfield said.
In the Jamaican capital Kingston, the city's airport was closed amid heavy rain and high winds.
"This morning, when they realized that the storm was heading Jamaica's way, everybody started to batten down and get their things together," journalist Fitzroy Prendergast told CNN.
The storm could reach the Florida Keys by late Thursday, and those areas could be under hurricane warnings by Thursday morning, he said.