After bringing rain, strong wind, and tornadoes to parts of Florida, Tropical Storm Andrea moved quickly across southern Georgia and was speeding through South and North Carolina Friday morning. The first named storm of the Atlantic hurricane season lost some strength after making landfall Thursday in northern Florida, and its winds had decreased to 75 kilometers per hour (kph) Friday. National Weather Service (NWS) meteorologist Ben Nelson said Andrea was "moving at a pretty brisk pace" and could lose its tropical characteristics Friday. The storm created a difficult morning commute for workers and students in South Carolina on Friday, but there were no immediate reports of injuries or damage. Andrea was expected to move into North Carolina by midday. The NWS issued flood watches across much of both states, as well as tornado and flash-flood watches in several counties. Tropical storm warnings remained in effect for the U.S. east coast from Savannah, Georgia north to the Chesapeake Bay in Virginia and Maryland, east of the capital. The warning means tropical-storm conditions are expected somewhere inside the warning zone within 36 hours. At 1200 GMT Friday, Andrea was centered about 60 kilometers north-northwest of Charleston, South Carolina, with little change in strength expected. On Thursday, Florida Governor Rick Scott warned of the risk of tornadoes, and officials said that eight were confirmed across the state. "This one fortunately is a fast-moving storm," he said. Slower-moving storms pose a greater flood risk because they have more time to drop rain on an area.
