Florida braces for rain from Hurricane Eta, Theta moves away from US

Eta strengthened back into a hurricane on Wednesday but is unlikely to bring rain to North Carolina, according to WRAL meteorologist Elizabeth Gardner.

Currently off the coast of southwest Florida, Hurricane Eta is forecast to make landfall this week along the west coast of Florida, north of Tampa.

Eta could bring up to 5 inches rain and 2-4 feet of storm surge to Florida in the 48 hours but is forecast to move east into the Atlantic, away from the coast. Parts of Florida have already seen 20 inches of rain from the system.

Finally, a tropical wave over the Caribbean has a high chance of developing this weekend and could be named Iota, another first-time storm. It could track westward to Central America next week.

According to records, North Carolina has only felt impacts from a tropical system in November twice in the last 20 years.

Hurricane season ends Nov. 30.

Eta is the 28th named Atlantic storm this season, breaking the previous 2005 record for most named storms in a season. There has never been a tropical storm, or hurricane, named Eta in history.