Alberto getting its wind

Tropical Storm Alberto continued its slow creep toward the Florida coastline Monday, bringing wind and rain to Lee County but also relief for local firefighters who have spent the past several months battling brush fires fueled by an unusually dry season.

By the time Alberto leaves the state late today, its outer bands should have dumped 4 to 8 inches of rain on Lee County over the last few days, said John McMichael, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Tampa. Most of the county received 2 to 3 inches of rain on Monday, with another 1 to 2 inches expected overnight, said McMichael, who anticipated an additional 2 to 3 inches today.

McMichael said Alberto should make landfall southeast of Tallahassee as a strong tropical storm or Category 1 hurricane after picking up intensity from warm waters in the Gulf of Mexico.

"It's definitely a relief," said Debbi Redfield, spokeswoman for the Bonita Springs Fire District, where firefighters recently responded to a brush fire that burned 200 acres east of Interstate 75. "Any amount of rain will help at this point."

Coastal regions in Lee County could feel wind gusts of 30 to 35 mph, while the outer bands of Alberto could bring rain gusts of 40 mph, McMichael said.

"Right now, we're expecting the strongest winds to the north," McMichael said.

The first tropical storm of the season formed Saturday in the Caribbean and moved toward the Florida coastline at 6 mph, a far cry from the Tropical Storm Alberto that hit the state in 1994 and went on to cause massive flooding in Georgia and resulted in 30 deaths.

While the meteorologists originally predicted this year's Tropical Storm Alberto would never reach hurricane-level status, by Monday morning Alberto's winds were clocked at 70 mph.

The threshold to become a hurricane is 74 mph.

The storm prompted the National Hurricane Center to put a 200-mile stretch of the Florida coastline, from Longboat Key near Sarasota to the Ochlockonee River south of Tallahassee, under a hurricane advisory watch Monday morning.

Gov. Jeb Bush signed a declaration of emergency, an action that allows him to call up the National Guard and put laws into effect to protect consumers against price-gouging.

In Lee County, where residents remained under a tropical storm and tornado watch, motorists were advised to tread carefully on wet roads that offer the perfect conditions for collisions.

"I think people just need to slow down," said Lee County Sheriff's Office spokeswoman Ileana LiMarzi. "Your vehicle is going to take longer to stop on slick roads."

With the brunt of Alberto's effect in Lee County expected to be rain, localized flooding is possible and sand bags are being made available at local fire departments, said Gerald Campbell, planning chief for Lee County emergency management.

"We're still just expecting rain," Campbell said. "We're not doing anything tremendously special at this point."

The mood was anything but panicked at Sunshine Ace Hardware on Bonita Beach Road, where customers meandered through aisles picking up supplies for home repair projects.

Most already had picked up their storm supplies during the 12-day tax-free hurricane period, said store manager Jim Batts.

The tax-free period that ended June 1 offered Florida residents a chance to stock up on items that related to hurricane readiness such as generators, batteries, fans, air conditioners, radios, storm trackers, water, gasoline cans and first-aid kits.

"I think a lot of people got supplies then," Batts said.

Alberto did little to stop a handful of local residents from braving wind gusts and a few lights sprinkles Monday as they took in an afternoon at Bonita Beach.

For 15-year-old Alex Owens, it was all about the waves.

The Bonita Springs resident carried a bright yellow skim board as he walked along the beach with friend Zander Mead, 15. Owens said he had spent most of the day in the water that traditionally offers a more subdued ride.

"It's usually pretty boring," Owens said. "We come here for every hurricane."

The crashing waves offered a more ominous outlook for Estero resident Diane Courtemanche, who was surprised the season's first storm arrived so early in the year.

If Alberto reaches the Florida coastline as a hurricane, it would be the earliest hurricane to hit the United States in four decades, according to the National Hurricane Center.

"It's a little disconcerting," Courtemanche said, "if this is a sign of things to come."

A sense of uneasiness is understandable with storms like Katrina and Wilma still fresh in the mind of residents who last year went through the most destructive hurricane season on record.

Last year's hurricane season produced 28 named storms and 15 hurricanes. The National Weather Service has already predicted the 2006 season could produce as many as 16 named storms, six of them major hurricanes.

The storm is not expected to affect the state's gas prices, despite a potential impact on one of Florida's only gas ports in Tampa.

The Port of Tampa plans on keeping its shipping channels open and having all commerce continue through the storm, said port spokesman Andy Fobes.

"We're not at any phase that we would consider closing our channels," Fobes said.

The Port of Tampa and Port Everglades are the two main ports for gasoline arriving in Florida. Gasoline from the two ports is shipped throughout the Gulf region, including Southwest Florida.

Gas prices in Southwest Florida have not yet taken a hit from Alberto and probably won't, said Randy Long, president of the Evans Oil Co., a Naples distributor that delivers gasoline through Lee and Collier counties. He said the refineries in the Gulf of Mexico should still produce gasoline and his workers have not seen increased prices at either port.

"The ships will still bring (the oil) in," Long said. "Sometimes they wait out the storm or go around it."

Staff Writer Nicholas Alajakis contributed to this report.