Thursday, August 24, 2006

MIAMI, USA (Reuters): Debby, the fourth tropical storm of the 2006 Atlantic hurricane season, strengthened slowly on Wednesday over open waters but posed no threat to land, the U.S. National Hurricane Center said.

Debby had maximum sustained winds near 50 mph (85 kph) and was about 500 miles (805 km) west of the Cape Verde Islands, the Miami-based hurricane center said in its latest advisory.

It was moving west-northwest near 17 mph (28 kph) and some more strengthening was forecast during the next 24 hours as it moved in the general direction of the British mid-Atlantic territory of Bermuda.

Debby strengthened from a tropical depression into a tropical storm late on Tuesday when sustained winds reached 39 mph (63 kph).

The hurricane center said top winds could hit 74 mph (119 kph), the threshold for hurricane status, in four days.

The most likely long-range track had the storm moving over the open Atlantic Ocean for the next five days, heading generally toward Bermuda but turning north and missing the British territory by a wide margin.

On that track it would not threaten the southeastern United States or the oil-producing U.S. Gulf Coast, where the record-breaking 2005 hurricane season caused havoc.

The current season has been quiet so far, with only three tropical storms. The Atlantic hurricane season officially runs from June 1 to Nov. 30.

Last year produced a record 28 tropical storms and hurricanes. Katrina devastated New Orleans and killed more than 1,300 people along the Gulf coast.

U.S. hurricane forecasters had warned the season could become more active in the near future. The period from mid-August to late October is usually the busiest.

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