Several media outlets are reporting that Tropical Storm Cindy drenched southwestern Louisiana Thursday morning as the storm is continues to bring heavy rains along the U.S. Gulf Coast.
According to the National Hurricane Center, a Tropical Storm Warning is in effect for High Island, TX to Morgan City, LA. Residents elsewhere along the U.S. Gulf Coast from the central Texas coast to the western Florida Panhandle should monitor the progress of this system, according to the National Hurricane Center’s most recent public advisory.
According to CNN, heavy downpours are expected Thursday in East Texas, Alabama and the Florida Panhandle. In fact, more than six million people remain under tornado watches, an area covering New Orleans and points north into central Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama, according to the CNN report. Meanwhile, AccuWeather is reporting that locally gusty winds with and without thunder could down tree limbs and lead to sporadic power outages near the Gulf Coast.
"People along the upper Gulf coast will also need to be vigilant for the risk of a few tornadoes and waterspouts through Thursday night," said AccuWeather Storm Warning Meteorologist Richard Schraeger in a written statement.
Cindy is moving toward the north at about 12 mph, according to the National Hurricane Center, and a turn toward the north-northeast is expected later today, followed by a turn toward the northeast on Friday. On the forecast track, Cindy will move into southeastern Arkansas early Friday, and into Tennessee later on Friday. Cindy should weaken to a tropical depression later this morning, and become a remnant low tonight. Tropical-storm-force winds extend outward up to 70 miles to the southeast of the center.
Cindy Claims At Least One Life
CNN report that the storm, which has put millions of residents under high alert of "life-threatening flash flooding" since Tuesday, has already claimed at least one life.
A 10-year-old boy from Missouri died Wednesday after a log struck him outside a beachfront condo in Fort Morgan, Alabama, the Baldwin County Sheriff's Office said, according to the CNN report.
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