From the Florida Panhandle to eastern Texas, residents and government officials along the northern Gulf Coast kept an eye on slow-moving Tropical Storm Cindy, which the National Weather Service said posed a threat of “life-threatening flash flooding,” The Associated Press reports.
Rain bands from the weather disturbance in the Gulf of Mexico began pushing ashore Tuesday, June 20 even before it reached tropical storm strength. It was stationary much of the day Tuesday but was on a lumbering track that would take its center toward southwestern Louisiana and eastern Texas by Wednesday morning.
But the heavy rains were on its east side, meaning the major rain threat — perhaps a foot or more of rain by Thursday — stretched from southeastern Louisiana to the Florida Panhandle.
“We could see this thing park on the west side of the state and dump rain until Saturday,” Mississippi Emergency Management Agency Executive Director Lee Smithson said Tuesday.
Cindy’s maximum sustained winds were near 60 mph (96 kph) Wednesday morning with slight weakening expected to begin Thursday. But the main danger appeared to be from rain.
The prospect had a real estate manager in Mississippi’s coastal Jackson County looking for empty property on higher ground for tenants who might need it.
“We’re expecting it to be really bad,” Mark Cumbest said of possible flooding.
The third tropical storm of 2017, Cindy was 170 miles (274 kilometers) south-southwest of Morgan City, Louisiana as of early Wednesday. Forecasters warned 6 to 9 inches (15-22 cms) of rain and up to 12 inches (30 cms) in spots was the biggest threat in parts of Louisiana, Alabama, Mississippi and the Florida Panhandle, with east Texas getting anywhere from 3 to 6 inches (8-15 cms).
State and local officials in Louisiana and Mississippi were mulling the possibility of emergency declarations.
