Fred may regain tropical storm strength as it nears Florida

By ANDREA RODRÍGUEZ
Associated Press

HAVANA (AP) — Forecasters say tropical depression Fred is slowly strengthening and could regain tropical storm status on Saturday. The U.S. National Hurricane Center says the system is dumping heavy rain along the north coast of Cuba on a forecast track toward Florida. Maximum sustained winds are around 35 mph. Forecasters expect Fred to approach the Keys on Saturday and southwest Florida on Sunday. Fred became a tropical storm Tuesday but weakened to a depression crossing Haiti and the Dominican Republic. Meanwhile, forecasters are eyeing a tropical depression still east of the Caribbean they say is likely become the seventh named storm of the Atlantic hurricane season.