The busy one Atlantic hurricane season continued Friday with Isaac strengthening into a Category 1 storm in the open waters of the Atlantic. Forecasters said the storm could cause dangerous waves in the Azores.
Meanwhile, Tropical Storm Joyce formed and is not threatening land.
Isaac was about 1,080 miles west of the Azores, with maximum sustained winds of 75 mph. It was heading east-northeast at 18 mph. Forecasters said Isaac is expected to strengthen before gradually weakening by the end of the weekend.
NOAA via AP
Joyce is located about 1,325 miles east of the northern Leeward Islands and has maximum sustained winds of 40 mph. It was moving northwest at about 13 km/h.
Forecasters said the storm was expected to strengthen gradually through Sunday before weakening early next week.
While there are no coastal watches or warnings for either storm, waves from Issac could cause life-threatening surf and rip current conditions in the Azores, the Miami-based US National Hurricane Center said Friday.
The storms roar in the open sea after Hurricane Helene made landfall in northwest Florida as a Category 4 storm before weakening early Friday. It has left flooding, damage and power outages. More than 20 deaths have been blamed on the storm.
Officials have released videos of raging floodwaters, smashed boats and entire neighborhoods submerged in water as rescue efforts continue. The Coast Guard released a video of one man and dog are saved after Helene disabled her sailboat about 25 miles from Sanibel Island