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Parts of the southeastern United States are bracing for the impacts of Tropical Storm Imelda, just one year after 

 tore through the region, leaving casualties and calamity in its wake.

South Carolina Gov. Henry McMaster put residents under a state of emergency in preparation for the storm, which is expected to impact parts of the East Coast starting early this week.

"While the storm's arrival, speed, and intensity remain hard to predict, we do know that it will bring significant wind, heavy rainfall, and flooding across the ENTIRE state of South Carolina," McMaster said in a 

"We have seen this before. Now is the time to start paying attention to forecasts, updates, and alerts from official sources and begin making preparations," he said.

Forecasters upgraded the strengthening tropical depression to Tropical Storm Imelda on Sunday afternoon.

The system is currently tracking across parts of the Caribbean, according to the National Hurricane Center (NHC), and is expected to affect eastern Cuba, Jamaica, the Bahamas, the Dominican Republic and Haiti through the weekend as it intensifies.

Parts of the central and northwestern Bahamas were already 

 Sunday morning, with a storm surge as high as three feet expected to rise later in the day and into the evening, according to the Bahamas Department of Meteorology.

Imelda is set to intensify before it reaches the U.S., forecasters warned. The NHC said Imelda is set to become a hurricane by late Monday or Tuesday.

 areas of central Florida along the East Coast could experience tropical storm conditions beginning on Monday. A large swath of Florida's eastern coastline was under a tropical storm watch on Sunday afternoon.

Further up the coast, Georgia and the Carolinas were also preparing for harsh conditions. "Heavy rainfall across the coastal Carolinas could cause flash, urban, and river flooding into Wednesday morning," the 

, were distributing sandbags to residents to prepare for the possibility of flooding.

The risk of strong wind impacts through the southeastern U.S. was dropping, the NHC said, but the storm could cause "dangerous marine conditions and rip currents" along much of the East Coast early this week.

The southeastern U.S. has thus far been spared the brunt of the year's Atlantic hurricane season.

The region had been repeatedly battered by years of intense storm seasons, including last year's devastating 

, which was the second severe hurricane of the year and laid to waste entire towns as it ripped across the coast.

 have formed over the ocean but are not considered threats to the United States.

 over the years, as climate change make storms stronger and more frequent. Hotter ocean temperatures breed bigger, more intense storms, which in turn can cause more severe flooding, infrastructure damage and loss of life.

Hurricane Katrina in 2005, which savaged New Orleans and much of the Gulf region, led to a push to better understand how and why these storms occur, and what agencies could do to 

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The National Hurricane Center said Tropical Storm Imelda could intensify as it approaches the East Coast. South Carolina’s governor declared a state of emergency.

Tropical Storm Imelda expected to batter parts of the southeastern U.S. this week

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