Tropical Storm Bertha touched down along the Louisiana coast Wednesday afternoon and continued pushing westward toward Texas early Thursday, after forcing beach closures along the Gulf Coast from the Florida Panhandle through Mississippi.
The storm came ashore in St. Bernard Parish, roughly 40 miles east of New Orleans. Forecasters expect Bertha to reach the upper Texas coast by Thursday before weakening and breaking apart over inland Texas by Friday.
As of early Thursday, the storm was positioned about 110 miles southwest of New Orleans and approximately 120 miles southeast of Lake Charles, Louisiana. It was moving west at 12 mph with maximum sustained winds of 45 mph, according to the National Hurricane Center.
Wind and storm surge posed the greatest dangers across the Deep South. Coastal parks, piers, and some low-lying roads were shut down as a precaution. A tropical storm warning was in effect from Alabama through Louisiana, including New Orleans, where residents were also dealing with extreme heat on top of the storm’s arrival.
Spectators gathered to watch rising water at the Lake Pontchartrain estuary, with children wading through floodwaters as the storm drew closer. Some residents continued mowing their lawns even as streets began filling with water.
Tropical storm-force winds extended up to 160 miles from the storm’s center. A wind gust of 44 mph was recorded at New Orleans Lakefront Airport on Wednesday afternoon. In Panama City Beach, Florida, powerful winds toppled a Waffle House sign onto a parked car.
Fortunately, the heaviest rainfall remained mostly offshore, which helped limit the flooding threat, the hurricane center noted.
Louisiana State Climatologist Jay Grymes said the storm was not expected to cause widespread damage and that coastal communities should be able to handle the impacts. Gov. Jeff Landry described the forecast as “encouraging” but urged residents to remain prepared for possible flooding.
Storm surge of up to 3 feet was possible in Louisiana and Alabama, with rainfall totals projected between 1 and 4 inches — though isolated spots could see higher amounts.
Southern Louisiana faced the unusual combination of both tropical storm and extreme heat warnings for much of Wednesday. The National Weather Service called it a rare double threat, noting it was the first time in at least two decades — based on records going back to 2005 — that such conditions had occurred simultaneously in the region.
Bertha is the second named storm of the current Atlantic hurricane season. Tropical Storm Arthur formed in June and brought heavy rainfall to the southeastern United States. Bertha could drop significant rain on parts of coastal Mississippi that are still recovering from flooding caused by Arthur, which damaged and destroyed homes in the area.
Elsewhere across the country, a line of storms on Tuesday spawned tornado reports stretching from the Cincinnati area to New Jersey. In West Virginia, heavy rains triggered flash flooding that swamped homes, washed out bridges, and prompted water rescues, according to authorities.
In the eastern Pacific, Hurricane Fausto was spinning far out to sea Wednesday, located hundreds of miles west-southwest of the southern tip of Baja California with maximum sustained winds of 80 mph. Forecasters expected it to gradually gain strength, and warned that ocean swells from Fausto were already reaching the Baja California coast, posing a risk of dangerous surf and rip currents.
