The US National Hurricane Center announced that Tropical Depression Nine has strengthened into Tropical Storm Imelda off Florida. The center said that Imelda is now about 595.46 km southeast of Cape Canaveral, Florida, packing maximum sustained winds of 65 km per hour. It is expected to become a hurricane by this evening or tomorrow. A tropical storm is expected to hit the central and northwestern Bahamas in the coming hours. Waves caused by Tropical Storm Imelda and Hurricane Humberto will affect parts of the Bahamas in the coming days, and will then extend to most of the eastern US coast.