A tropical depression in the Gulf is expected to strengthen into a tropical storm and bring life-threatening coastal flooding and flash flooding to southern Mississippi and southeast Louisiana this week, the Mississippi Emergency Management Agency said Monday.
MEMA said the system was along the Florida panhandle Monday morning and was tracking northwest along the Gulf Coast. The agency warned that potentially life-threatening coastal flooding and flash flooding are expected as the storm moves along that path through the week.
Jamie Rhome, deputy director of the National Hurricane Center, said Monday that forecasters expect slow development over the next 24 to 36 hours and that the system could reach tropical storm strength later Monday, at which point it would be named Bertha. He said the storm was expected to reach Mississippi and southeast Louisiana sometime Wednesday.
Officials placed areas from Florida to Louisiana under a tropical storm watch and issued a storm surge watch from coastal Alabama to Louisiana, saying two to four feet of storm surge could create difficult or life-threatening conditions. The three southern Mississippi counties of Hancock, Harrison and Jackson were included in the forecast, MEMA said.
The National Weather Service said the greatest impacts are expected south of Interstate 10, with heavy rain capable of causing flash flooding, swelling rivers and inundating low-lying areas. The agency also warned of damaging winds that could affect porches, awnings, carports and sheds, and said it was not predicting tornado impacts at landfall as of Monday. Rhome urged residents to follow local emergency management alerts as the system moves northwest over the next few days.
Jon Ross Myers is the executive editor and publisher of the Mississippi News Network, Mississippi's largest digital only media company. He can be reached at editor@tippahnews.com
