Florida braces for tropical storm with hurricane force winds and ocean surges

Named Debby, the storm system had maximum sustained wind speeds of 40mph and was moving toward the state

A tropical storm with near hurricane strength winds and life threatening storm surges is expected to crash into Florida's Big Bend area on the northern Gulf coast shoreline by Monday morning, the National Hurricane Center said.

As of 5pm ET on Saturday, the storm, named Debby, had maximum sustained wind speeds of 40mph and was moving off the coast of Havana, Cuba, and towards Florida. The National Hurricane Center has designated Debby with an advisory 6.