Hurricane Eta Could Threaten Florida

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MIAMI (CBSMiami) -- Hurricane Eta made landfall on the Nicaraguan coast as an extremely powerful category 4 storm on Tuesday and now South Florida is keeping a close eye on the storm.

The hurricane is expected to slowly weaken while it produces life threatening flash flooding over Honduras, Nicaragua, Guatemala, and Belize for the next two days.

After that, the storm is expected to move northeast back over the Caribbean Sea and slowly strengthen.

"While it's too early to tell what if any impact Eta could have on South Florida and the Keys, we need to watch it closely, especially after it gets back over water on Friday for potential impacts later this weekend," said CBS4 Chief Meteorologist Craig Setzer.

As of the 5:00 p.m. Tuesday forecast advisory, the five-day uncertainty cone was covering South Florida for the Sunday time frame.

While there is a lot of uncertainty regarding the eventual intensity and track of Eta once it emerges into the Caribbean this weekend, the CBS4 Weather team will be monitoring this closely.