Alberto downgraded to a depression, spreading heavy rains

Alberto downgraded cloudy sky

Forecasters downgraded Alberto to a still-dangerous depression Monday evening, warning heavy rains and an accompanying flood threat would continue in the aftermath of the storm's landfall in the Florida Panhandle.

The Memorial Day strike on the Gulf Coast by the first named storm of the 2018 Atlantic hurricane season drove holiday beachgoers away from roiling, dangerous surf. What had sprung up from the Gulf of Mexico as a subtropical storm was now a vast, soggy system trekking inland as it flung rain — heavy at times — all around the Southeast.

Forecasters warned that heavy downpours from the weakening system could raise the potential for life-threatening flash floods in coming hours or days across north Florida, much of Alabama and large areas of Georgia — and eventually into Tennessee and the Carolinas.