Tropical Storm Hermine forms off Florida: NHC

(Reuters) - Tropical depression No. 9 on Wednesday strengthened into Hermine, the eighth tropical storm of the season, the National Hurricane Center said. Hermine is located about 415 miles (665 km) west-southwest of Tampa, Florida, with maximum sustained winds of 40 miles per hour (65 km/h), the center said. Hermine's center is expected to approach the northwestern Florida coast on Thursday afternoon and could be near hurricane strength by the time it makes landfall, it added. (Reporting by Arpan Varghese in Bengaluru; Editing by Jonathan Oatis)