Tropical Depression 12 forms in the eastern Atlantic
MIAMI -- As parts of Florida struggle to recover from the catastrophic trail of destruction left by Hurricane Ian, the National Hurricane Center said Tuesday that Tropical Depression 12 has formed.
National forecasters said the storm had maximum sustained winds of 35 miles per hour and was moving to the northwest at 12 mph.
According to the hurricane center, the tropical depression formed west of the Cabo Verde islands and was expected to be short lived and not expected to pose a threat to Florida or the mainland U.S.
CBS 4 chief meteorologist Ivan Cabrera said if it gets a name it will likely be named Julia.
"It's not going to bother anyone as it moves away from the Cabo Verde islands," he said.
Another system could form and track towards Central America, Cabrera said.
The number of storm-related deaths has risen in recent days because of the dangers posed by cleaning up and as search and rescue crews comb through some of in the hardest-hit areas of Florida. Officials said that as of Monday, more than 2,350 people had been rescued throughout the state.
At least 79 people have been confirmed dead from the storm: 71 in Florida, five in North Carolina and three in Cuba since Ian made landfall on the Caribbean island on Sept. 27, a day before it reached Florida. After churning northeastward through the Sunshine State and moving out into the Atlantic, the hurricane made another landfall in South Carolina before pushing into the mid-Atlantic states.
There have been deaths in vehicle wrecks, drownings and accidents. A man drowned after becoming trapped under a vehicle. Another got trapped trying to climb through a window. And a woman died when a gust of wind knocked her off her porch while she was smoking a cigarette as the storm approached, authorities said.
In hardest-hit Lee County, Florida, all 45 people killed by the hurricane were over age 50.