Tropical Storm Cindy is moving northwestward across the Gulf of Mexico toward an expected landfall early Thursday morning near the Texas-Louisiana border.
ATLANTA — Tropical Storm Cindy is moving northwestward across the Gulf of Mexico toward an expected landfall early Thursday morning near the Texas-Louisiana border.
As of 8 am ET, the National Hurricane Center said the center of Cindy was located near Latitude 27.5 degrees North, Longitude 92.2 degrees West, placing it about 165 miles south-southwest of Morgan City, Louisiana, or about 200 miles southeast of Galveston, Texas. Maximum sustained winds are at 60 miles an hour with higher gusts, and it is moving to the northwest at 8 mph.
Tropical Storm Warnings have been issued from Mobile to Galveston — which means tropical storm conditions are expected somewhere within the warned area within the next 12-to-24 hours. Our New Orleans sister station, WWL-TV, says sustained winds of Tropical Storm force — above 38 mph — have already started occurring along much of the Louisiana Gulf Coast, as well as parts of the Mississippi coastline. The remainder of the warning area should see an increase in winds as Cindy approaches the coast.
A tornado watch has been issued along the coastal areas of Florida, Alabama, Mississippi and Louisiana in advance of Cindy.
Rainfall amounts of 6-to-9 inches with isolated amounts of more than 12 inches are expected through Thursday over parts of southeastern Louisiana, southern Mississippi, southern Alabama and the Florida panhandle through Thursday. The heavy rains could cause flash flooding in these areas.
The heavy rains are expected to move farther west across Louisiana and east Texas, as well as inland across Arkansas and into portions of Tennessee and the Ohio Valley by Friday, where accumulations upward of 5 inches are possible.
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