Tropical Storm Cindy careened ashore early Thursday in southwestern Louisiana.
Already blamed for one death in Alabama, Cindy was expected to keep churning seas and spin off bands of severe weather from eastern Texas to northwestern Florida.
The storm’s maximum sustained winds had decreased to near 40 mph Thursday morning with additional weakening expected, the U.S. National Hurricane Center said.
A boy on an Alabama beach was struck and killed Wednesday by a log washed ashore by the storm. Baldwin County Sheriff’s Captain Stephen Arthur said witnesses reported the 10-year-old Missouri boy was standing outside a condominium in Fort Morgan when the log, carried in by a large wave, struck him. The boy was vacationing with his family from the St. Louis area. He wasn’t immediately identified.
It was the first known fatality from Cindy. Otherwise, the storm was blamed for widespread coastal highway flooding, rough seas and scattered reports of power outages and building damage caused by high winds. There were numerous reports of waterspouts and short-lived tornadoes spawned by the storm.
National Weather Service forecasters estimated the storm had dumped anywhere from 2 to 10 inches of rain on various spots along the Gulf Coast from southern Louisiana to the Florida panhandle as of Wednesday. And more rain was on the way.
In Gulfport, Mississippi, Kathleen Bertucci heavy rainfall Wednesday sent about 10 inches of water.
Storms also downed trees in the Florida Panhandle. Fort Walton Beach spokeswoman Jo Soria said fallen trees hit houses and cars in what she called “pockets of wind damage” in two or three residential neighborhoods.
The White House said President Donald Trump was briefed on the storm Wednesday by Homeland Security Adviser Tom Bossert.
