NEW ORLEANS — Tropical Storm Cristobal continued to weaken early Monday, after the lopsided storm crashed ashore in Louisiana and ginned up dangerous weather farther east,…
NEW ORLEANS —
Tropical Storm Cristobal continued to weaken early Monday, after the lopsided storm crashed ashore in Louisiana and ginned up dangerous weather farther east, sending waves crashing over Mississippi beaches, swamping parts of an Alabama island town and spawning a tornado in Florida.
Cristobal made a Saturday afternoon landfall between the mouth of the Mississippi River and the since-evacuated barrier island resort community of Grand Isle, with 50-mph (85-kph) winds.
Making landfall well under hurricane strength, the storm had begun weakening as it moved inland late Sunday night — but heavy rainfall and a storm surge were continuing along the Gulf Coast, posing a threat across a wide area into the Florida Panhandle.
At 1 a.m. CDT Monday, the storm was centered about 35 miles (56 kilometers) northwest of New Orleans, packing slowed winds of 40 mph (64 kmph). With its drenching rains, Cristobal — moving north-northwest at 10 mph (16 kmph) — was expected to keep inundating the northern Gulf Coast well into Monday but the National Hurricane Center in Miami said it would likely weaken into a tropical depression within the “next several hours.”
Cristobal’s forecast path takes it inland through southeast Louisiana Monday, continuing north into Arkansas and Missouri by Tuesday, moving over Wisconsin on Tuesday night and into Canada by Wednesday, according to the latest advisory.
In New Orleans, the question was how much rain would fall and whether there would be enough breaks in the bands of heavy weather for the beleaguered pumping system to meet its latest test of keeping streets free of flood waters.
