ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — Good morning Tampa Bay!
Let's get your Tuesday started with the stories you need to know about.
Tracking Hurricane Delta
Hurricane Delta is expected to continue strengthening as it moves through the Caribbean and toward the Gulf Coast.
Tuesday morning it reached Category 2 strength with 100 mph winds. It's forecast to reach major, Category 4 strength with 130 mph winds by tomorrow morning as it approaches the northeast Yucatan.
Florida’s western Panhandle is in the cone. Tampa Bay is not. So, what will the impact be for our region?
With the current projected path by the National Hurricane Center, the biggest concern for Tampa Bay will be the threat of large waves for boaters and a high risk for rip currents.
Other weather impacts in Tampa Bay will be minimal. In fact, the latest computer model forecasts have our winds shifting out of the southeast, which will bring slightly lower rain chances through Friday.
Online registration issues 💻
Just hours before the deadline to register to vote in Florida to be eligible to vote in the Nov. 3 presidential election, the state's registration website began experiencing issues.
RegisterToVoteFlorida.gov is the official website Floridians can use to register to vote. Early Monday evening, multiple reports surfaced of users unable to access the site or experiencing a slow response loading the website.
The official cut off to register to vote in Florida was 11:59 p.m. Oct. 5.
The state did not respond to requests from 10 Tampa Bay for more information and an explanation of what caused the issue.
Florida Secretary of State Laurel M. Lee did confirm the problem online, tweeting the issues were linked to a "high volume" of people trying to register at once.
An act of kindness 🖤🐾
There are few things in life like the bond between a person and a pet. A worker at one animal shelter made sure one such bond could go on for a long time to come.
Jessica, who works at the Santa Rosa County Animal Shelter in the Florida panhandle, wrote on Facebook that it started when a woman walked in crying last month. Jessica said the woman asked her for her dog back, adding she didn't have the money to pay the fees to get him.
Jessica's answer quickly comforted her.
"It’s okay, we got you. You’re getting your dog back," Jessica told the woman in response. Then she brought the dog, named Glock, back to the woman who loves him.
Not only did the owner get her dog back, but she also got some food for him and a voucher to get him neutered.