ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. -- Eta remained a tropical storm Wednesday afternoon as it prepared to skirt past the heavily populated Tampa Bay region in Florida and crash ashore somewhere to the north in the Gulf of Mexico.
The storm's maximum sustained winds remained at about 70 mph off Florida's west coast as the storm moved northward, according to the National Hurricane Center in Miami. Additional weakening is possible as Eta approaches the coast.
Forecasters had posted -- but later discontinued -- a hurricane watch for a 120-mile stretch that includes Tampa and St. Petersburg. Eta had briefly attained hurricane strength Wednesday morning but then weakened. Subsequently, a tropical storm warning was issued for the same general area.
The storm has been in the Gulf of Mexico since crossing over south Florida on Sunday. At 4 p.m. Wednesday, Eta was 85 miles south of St. Petersburg and was moving north at 12 mph, the hurricane center reported.
The Tampa Bay region is home to more than 3.5 million people across five coastal counties. No mandatory evacuations were immediately ordered, but authorities began opening shelters for anyone needing them. No serious damage or flooding was immediately reported.
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Tampa Mayor Jane Castor said special care, such as social distancing, is taken at shelters to protect people from the coronavirus and suggested people provide their own masks.
"Everything will be done to make sure all of our residents are safe," Castor said.
The forecast prompted school officials in Pinellas and Pasco counties, which includes St. Petersburg, to send students home early Wednesday. Both counties announced that schools would remain closed today, as did neighboring Hillsborough County.
The Florida Highway Patrol closed the Sunshine Skyway Bridge that links Pinellas and Manatee counties because of high winds. Tampa International Airport tweeted that it would suspend operations at 3 p.m. Wednesday.
In Pasco County, officials set up four do-it-yourself locations for people to fill sandbags. In Tampa, the Busch Gardens theme park announced that it was closed Wednesday, and several Veterans Day events in the area were canceled.
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis issued an expanded emergency declaration to include 13 counties along or near the Gulf Coast, adding them to south Florida counties. DeSantis also asked for an early emergency order from the Federal Emergency Management Agency to free resources to tackle the storm.
A coronavirus testing site at Tropicana Field was also closed Wednesday.
Forecasts call for more rain from the storm system over parts of already drenched south Florida.
"Never seen this, never, not this deep," said Anthony Lyas, who has lived in his now-waterlogged Fort Lauderdale neighborhood since 1996. He described hearing water and debris slamming against his shuttered home overnight as the storm crossed Florida.
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The storm first hit Nicaragua as a Category 4 hurricane and killed at least 120 people in Central America and Mexico, with scores more missing. It then moved into the Gulf of Mexico early Monday near where the Everglades meet the sea, with maximum sustained winds of 50 mph.
There was nowhere for the water to go across much of south Florida, which had already experienced nearly 14 inches of rain in October.
Information for this article was contributed by Kelli Kennedy and Cody Jackson of The Associated Press.
