Tuesday morning the National Hurricane Center was tracking five tropical systems in the Atlantic Ocean including one that looks to threaten Haiti and the Dominican Republic.
On Sunday the hurricane center issued alerts about Tropical Storm Franklin which is approaching Hispaniola, the Caribbean island that includes Haiti and the Dominican Republic.A tropical storm watch also went into effect Monday morning for Turks and Caicos Islands.
Meanwhile, a tropical depression in the Gulf of Mexico became Tropical Storm Harold early Tuesday morning and was potentially threatening the coast of Texas and another storm was brewing far out in the Atlantic.
Tropical Storm Franklin was about 265 miles south of Santo Domingo, the capital of the Dominican Republic, said the hurricane center. It had maximum sustained winds of 50 mph and was moving north-northwest at 4 mph.
That system should turn north Tuesday, and a generally northward motion is expected on Wednesday. On the forecast track, the center of Franklin is expected to reach the southern coast of Hispaniola on Wednesday and traverse the island and move off of the northern coast on Thursday.
Heavy rainfall from Franklin is expected across portions of Puerto Rico and Hispaniola through the middle of the week, producing areas of flash and urban flooding as well as river rises and mudslides.
Across Hispaniola, significant and potentially life-threatening flash flooding is possible Tuesday into Wednesday.Disorganized showers and thunderstorms located a few hundred miles west of the Cape Verde Islands are associated with another developing tropical wave.
