Tropical Storm Claudette landed in the United States on Saturday morning along the coast of the Gulf of Mexico, bringing heavy rains and flooding along with it.
At around 8 a.m. EDT, the storm was moving inland over southeastern Louisiana, around 30 miles north of New Orleans, with maximum sustained winds of 45 mph, the National Hurricane Center announced.
The tropical storm is estimated to dump 5 to 10 inches of rain throughout areas of the central Gulf Coast. There is a possibility of “life-threatening flash flooding” across coastal Mississippi and Alabama and the western Florida Panhandle into Saturday afternoon, the NHC said.
A tornado watch was issued for parts of Alabama, Mississippi, and the Florida Panhandle until noon EDT.
GULF COAST FACING RAIN AND FLOOD THREATS AS POTENTIAL TROPICAL STORM MOVES IN
7:00PM CT: The moderate to heavy rainfall in New Orleans will persist through the next hour or two. Rainfall rates are still looking like 1-2” per hour. Winds are gusting 35-40 mph. Be safe and limit driving for the time being. #mswx #lawx pic.twitter.com/jUYVHY45cs
— NWS New Orleans (@NWSNewOrleans) June 18, 2021
It was not immediately clear if the weather system became a tropical storm before making landfall. The tropical storm formed at the same time it was centered inland near Houma, Louisiana, at 5 a.m. EDT, according to the NHC.
The weather service previously said on Friday that the potential tropical cyclone over the Gulf Coast could develop into a tropical storm when it came ashore.
Louisiana Gov. John Bel Edwards issued a state of emergency on Thursday and deployed the Crisis Action Team to support local agencies with any resources needed.
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Claudette is forecast to move inland over Louisiana over the next several hours and will travel to southeastern states throughout the weekend. It is expected to move out to the western Atlantic Ocean on Monday.
Potential Tropical Cyclone Three is approaching the northern Gulf coast. Here are the 4 pm CDT Key Messages. For more information, visit https://t.co/tW4KeFW0gB pic.twitter.com/YO1BgqTt9J
— National Hurricane Center (@NHC_Atlantic) June 18, 2021
