Three tropical storms moving across Caribbean

Aug 16, 2009, 20:10 GMT

Washington - Three small tropical storms were moving across the Caribbean Sunday including one threatening Florida, the first storms of the Atlantic season after two months of total quiet.

The storms claimed the first letters of the alphabet - Ana, Bill and Claudette - and one of them, Ana, was found to be so 'poorly organized' that it was 'barely a tropical storm,' the National Hurricane Center in Miami, Florida, reported.

Claudette was already threatening the US coast along Alabama and Florida at 1800 GMT, moving about 65 kilometres off the Florida coastal region of Apalachicola at a speed of 22 km/hr. It was preparing to dump heavy rainfall across the region and coastal flooding was expected in Alabama, the centre said.

Ana was near the island country of Dominica and headed in the direction of Puerto Rico and the US Virgin Islands at 40 km/hr at 1800 GMT. Winds were near 65 km/hr.

Bill was strenghtening about 2,500 kilometres east of the lesser Antilles and was moving west-northwest at 26 km/hr at 1500 GMT. Winds were about 95 km per hour, the centre said.