A 10-year-old boy in Alabama was killed Wednesday as Tropical Storm Cindy began bringing extreme winds and torrential rains to the Gulf Coast states.
June 21 (UPI) — A 10-year-old boy in Alabama was killed Wednesday as Tropical Storm Cindy began bringing extreme winds and torrential rains to the Gulf Coast states.
The boy was struck early Wednesday by a log that was brought ashore by a large wave from Cindy, officials said. Police said the boy, from Missouri, was near a waterfront condominium on the Alabama coast when he was hit.
The boy’s father told officials his son was standing just a few feet away from the front door when he was struck. He died at the scene.
The incident marked the first death from Tropical Storm Cindy, which has been swirling in the Gulf of Mexico for the last couple days.
The National Hurricane Center on Wednesday said the storm has weakened but can still generate heavy rainfall and life-threatening flash floods.
Mid-Wednesday afternoon, the NHC said Cindy had maximum sustained winds of 50 mph and is moving northwest at a speed of 9 mph. The storm system was less than 150 miles southeast of Galveston, Texas, but was already bringing severe weather to some of the areas near the gulf.
“Cindy is expected to produce total rain accumulations of 6 to 9 inches with isolated maximum amounts of 12 inches over southeastern Louisiana, southern Mississippi, southern Alabama, and western portions of the Florida Panhandle through Thursday, ” the NHC said in a statement .
Tornadoes are also possible, forecasters said, from the western Florida Panhandle across the southern parts of Alabama, Mississippi and Louisiana.
Cindy caused sporadic power outages in nearby communities and property damage throughout the region, as strong winds and rain pelt lands near the coastline.
Overnight, Tropical Storm Bret dissipated in the southern Caribbean.
