Alberto Strikes Gulf Coast With High Surf, Heavy Rains

Subtropical Storm Alberto lumbered ashore Monday on the U.S. Gulf Coast, pelting white sand beaches with blustery winds and stinging rain that kept the usual Memorial Day crowds away.

Forecasters warned heavy rain, flash flooding and dangerous surf posed the biggest threats as Alberto’s ragged core made landfall near Laguna Beach in the Florida Panhandle. A few brief tornadoes also were possible in much of Florida and parts of Georgia, South Carolina and Alabama.

The National Hurricane Center in Miami said 5 p.m. Monday that Alberto was centered about 15 miles west-northwest of Panama City, Florida. With maximum sustained winds of 45 mph Rough conditions were whipping up big waves off the eastern and northern Gulf Coast, and authorities warned swimmers to stay out of the surf because of life-threatening swells and rip currents. Between four and eight inches of rain could pummel Florida Panhandle, eastern and central Alabama, and western Georgia before the storm moves on.

Italian Election Seen As Plebiscite on EU and Euro

Rome — Italian populists vowed Monday to convert voter anger over their thwarted bid to govern for the first time into a kind of plebiscite on the European Union, financial markets and eurozone membership as the country found itself propelled to fresh elections as soon as late summer.

Amid the political turmoil, Carlo Cottarelli, an economist with International Monetary Fund experience, was asked by the Italian president to assemble a technocrat government to take the country to elections. With weeks of political uncertainty taking a toll on Italy’s bond and stock markets, Premier-designate Cottarelli said the return to the polls could come as early as after the August vacation break or, at the latest, at the start of 2019.

— Wire reports

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