Treasure Coast -Sunday June 5, 2022: Sporadic heavy rain fell Friday night through mid-day Saturday, but the Treasure Coast avoided the worst from a tropical depression that sped west to east across the state without becoming a tropical storm as predicted.
The National Hurricane Center had issued Tropical Storm Warnings for Central and south Florida Friday afternoon, but Wind shear blew the top off Potential Tropical Cyclone One as it approached the west coast of Florida, preventing it from forming into a tropical storm.
The disturbance pushed ashore overnight Friday into Saturday northeast of Naples moving at 18 mph. It kicked up some tropical-storm-force winds of 39 MPH in some areas during its northeast passage across the state. However forecaster say it never became organized enough to earn a name.
The disorganized system spilled off the east coast into the Atlantic late Saturday afternoon south of Fort Pierce. Once it reached the Gulf Stream early Sunday it picked up enough strength to form into Tropical Storm Alex, the first of the Atlantic hurricane season. It's forecast to pass near or just north of Bermuda Monday, after which it will begin to weaken as it tracks further into the Atlantic and becomes an extratropical low.
The depression left behind some record rainfall amounts in some areas of the Treasure Coast. As of 12 noon Saturday the National Weather Service reported that Vero Beach had recorded 4.67" of rain, breaking the previous daily rainfall record of 4.52" set in 1968. The rain caused minor flooding to some streets up and down the coast, but there were no reports of serious flooding in Indian River, St. Lucie or Martin Counties. Most of the rain occurred along the coast, with lesser amounts falling west of I-95.
All tropical storm warnings and flood watches for the Treasure Coast had been cancelled by 5 p.m. Saturday.
However heavier rainfall amounts were reported from Naples across to Miami where more than 11 inches fell causing serious flooding to many streets in the city. Although as of Sunday mid-day no injuries or fatalities had been reported from the storm.