( AP ) As North Carolina continued to mop up in the wake of Hurricane Dennis, a new weather system was brewing in the Atlantic on Wednesday. Forecasters say Floyd, the sixth tropical storm of the season, has the makings of a major hurricane and could strike the already battered Carolina coastline next week.

FLOYD WAS centered about 640 miles east of the Leeward Islands in the Caribbean on Wednesday and slowly gaining strength heading west-northwest.
 
The storm has sustained winds of nearly 50 mph with higher gusts, but forecasters say the storm is likely to keep growing during the next 24 hours. “Floyd is a good candidate to ultimately achieve major hurricane status,” said forecaster Richard Pasch of the National Hurricane Center.
 
Floyd formed from a brief tropical depression that came from a disturbance working its way west across the southern North Atlantic. Tropical depressions become named storms if their sustained circulating winds reach 39 mph. They become
hurricanes if the winds hit 74 mph.
 
Early computer models suggest Floyd could become a major storm as it moves across the Atlantic. Floyd is moving toward the west-northwest at 16 mph, a course expected to continue through Wednesday night.