A rapidly-forming tropical storm hit northwestern Florida on Monday and quickly weakened, while the first hurricane of this year's Atlantic season formed over the open ocean on a track for the island of Bermuda. Claudette was downgraded to a tropical depression Monday morning, with top sustained winds near 56 kilometers per hour (kph) after coming ashore a few hours earlier as the first named storm to hit the U.S. mainland this year. Claudette hit land near Fort Walton Beach early Monday, less than 12 hours after forming over the Gulf of Mexico. Claudette was headed across Alabama at 19 kph toward northeastern Mississippi, dropping heavy rain. The storm was not expected to cause significant flooding or wind damage, but one man drowned in Panama City, Florida. Meanwhile, Hurricane Bill formed over the Atlantic early Monday. The storm had maximum sustained winds near 120 kph that were expected to strengthen to 177 kph, the threshold for a major hurricane. Bill was centered less than 2,000 kilometers from the eastern Caribbean Sea and was moving west-northwest at 35 kph. The five-day forecast shows the storm passing northeast of Puerto Rico and heading toward Bermuda.
