Florida under hurricane warning as Alberto nears

ST PETERSBURG, Fla., June 12 (Reuters) Forecasters today issued a hurricane warning for much of Florida's Gulf Coast as Alberto, the first tropical storm of the 2006 Atlantic hurricane season, strengthened ominously and threatened to dump heavy rains on the state.

The storm, centered near latitude 27.1 north and longitude 89.5 west in the Gulf of Mexico, was about 190 miles south-southwest of Apalachicola, in Florida's northwestern panhandle, at 11 am EDT (2030 hrs IST), according to the US National Hurricane Center.

''Alberto has the potential to become a hurricane within the next 24 hours,'' the US forecasters in Miami said, adding to a sense of foreboding in a state hit by eight hurricanes in the last two years, including Katrina, which went on to devastate New Orleans.

Energy experts said Alberto was expected to miss Gulf oil platforms.

Alberto's maximum sustained winds had increased to near 70 miles per hour, and further strengthening was possible, the center said.

Tropical storms become hurricanes once their maximum sustained winds reach 74 mph.

Alberto dropped heavy rain on Cuba and was predicted to make landfall north of Florida's heavily populated Tampa-St. Petersburg area on Tuesday, cross the state, and then enter the Atlantic.

Tides were rising and rain was starting to fall on Florida's west coast.

Forecasters said 4-8 inches of rain were possible through tomorrow across parts of Florida and Georgia.

MUCH-AWAITED STORM Much of the US East Coast had been girding for the June 1 start of the hurricane season, and while tropical storms pose little threat to developed countries, anxieties have been heightened following the flooding of New Orleans last year by Hurricane Katrina the most costly and one of the deadliest natural disasters in US history.

More than 1,300 people were killed by Katrina and much of the US Gulf Coast is still recovering.

The hurricane center said the storm, moving north-northeast near 7 mph, was expected to hold to the same general path over the next 24 hours.

Alberto formed yesterday off Cuba, and civil defense officials there reported the storm had forced 26,000 people to evacuate low-lying areas in the Caribbean island's westernmost province of Pinar del Rio, where 16 to 20 inches of rain fell in 24 hours.

There was some minor flooding, but no deaths, injuries or significant damage to housing or agriculture were reported.

Tropical storms can cause deadly floods in low-lying areas and destroy ramshackle buildings in developing nations.

REUTERS SY ND2208