Alberto Soaks Cuba, Eyes Florida

Most of Florida's west coast is under a tropical storm watch as the first named storm of the 2006 Atlantic hurricane season spins over the Gulf of Mexico, threatening to bring heavy rain in the next few days.

Tropical Storm Alberto has maximum sustained winds of near 50 mph, up 15 mph from Sunday morning, but according to the National Hurricane Center, the storm is not likely to turn into a hurricane.

Alberto is a lopsided tropical storm with the most intense wind and rains massed on the eastern edge of the system, Avila said. The first of the storm's rains and winds are already hitting the Sunshine State, reports CBS Radio News.

Forecasters said that 30 inches of rain could fall over the western half of Cuba, creating a threat of flash floods and mudslides, and that 8 inches could fall over the Florida Keys and the state's Gulf Coast.

At 5 a.m. EDT, Alberto was centered about 275 miles south-southwest of Apalachicola. It is moving north-northeast at about 8 mph and could make landfall Tuesday night.

"Right before landfall they expect a little stronger: 55 gusts to 65. It won't be quite hurricane strength," said Ron Goodman, a meteorologist at the National Hurricane Center. "Things can change, but right now it's not expected to be a hurricane."

CBS' Portia Siegelbaum reports 26,000 residents of Pinar del Rio Province in westernmost Cuba have been evacuated, and Sunday night, heavy rains from the outer bands of Tropical Storm Albert hit the island.

Cuba's top meteorologist Jose Rubiera warned that the rainfall affecting the western provinces, including the capital, would not begin to taper off until Monday afternoon.

Some flooding is reported in low-lying areas, following as much as 20 inches of rain in just 24 hours, according to Cuban TV. Particularly hard-hit is the tobacco growing town of San Juan y Martinez, where fields are under several inches of water.

No deaths or injuries have been reported. Vidal Perez, the deputy head of the Pinar del Rio Civil Defense Council, says they will have to wait for the rains to stop and the waters to recede before crop damages could be estimated.

On the east coast of Florida, the prospect of a wet storm without hurricane-force wind was welcomed by firefighters who have been battling wildfires for six weeks.

"A good soaking rain would do a lot to help stop the fires in our area," said Pat Kuehn, a spokeswoman for Volusia County Fire Services. "It has been a hard fire season. We've had several fires a week here."

Residents of the state's Gulf Coast are watching the storm, including Patricia Haberland, whose back porch was flooded by 12 inches of rain in March. She put a few valuables in plastic bins this weekend just to be on the safe side.

"Other than that, we're carrying on as usual, going to work, going to church," said Haberland, 52. "It doesn't look like it's going to have a major impact on our area."

The storm is not expected to cross the Florida Keys, but some tourists are not taking any chances on the low-lying islands.

"I had a bunch of people check out," said Nikki LaMarca, front desk manager at Courtney's Place in Key West. "It's amazing. People are actually leaving."

In Cuba, Civil Defense officials say some 400 residents of Havana were evacuated but so far rivers and streams in the capital city are at their normal levels and no flooding has occurred.

The town of Nuevo Paz southeast of the capital was struck by a tornado Sunday. An unknown number of homes were destroyed.

Civil Defense bulletins are urging those who have been evacuated to remain in government-run shelters or the homes of relatives until authorities determine that it is safe for them to return to their homes.

Cuba's ramshackle housing, much of it still not fully recovered from the 2005 hurricane season, is particularly vulnerable to the type of continuous heavy rainfall that Albert has dumped on the island, Siegelbaum reports.

The tropical depression that produced Alberto formed Saturday, nine days after the official start of the hurricane season, in the northwest Caribbean, which can produce typically weak storms that follow a similar track this time of year.

"They can also meander in the Gulf for awhile, and we've seen some dissipate before reaching any land areas," said hurricane specialist Richard Pasch. "There is no guarantee (Alberto) will make landfall."

Scientists say the 2006 season could produce as many as 16 named storms, six of them major hurricanes.

Last year's hurricane season was the most destructive on record. Hurricane Katrina devastated Louisiana and Mississippi and was blamed for more than 1,570 deaths among Louisiana residents alone.

It also was the busiest in 154 years of storm tracking, with a records 28 named storms and a record 15 hurricanes. Meteorologists used up their list of 21 proper names — beginning with Arlene and ending with Wilma — and had to use the Greek alphabet to name storms for the first time.

This year, however, meteorologists have said the Atlantic is not as warm as it was at this time in 2005, meaning potential storms would have less of the energy needed to develop into hurricanes.

Last year's first named storm was Tropical Storm Arlene, which formed June 9 and made landfall just west of Pensacola in the Florida Panhandle.