Alberto prompts evacuation on Fla. coast

CEDAR KEY, Fla. - More than 20,000 people along Florida's Gulf Coast were ordered to clear out Monday as Alberto — the very first tropical storm of the new hurricane season — unexpectedly picked up steam and threatened to come ashore as a hurricane.

If Alberto came ashore as a hurricane, it would be the earliest hurricane in 40 years to hit the United States, according to the

National Hurricane CenteR