Tropical Storm Cindy Hits Coast in Southwest Louisiana

For the third day in a row, states along the Gulf Coast have been hammered as Tropical Storm Cindy made its way ashore during the early hours of Thursday morning.  Blamed for one death in Alabama, Tropical Storm Cindy is expected to continue to ravage the seas, distributing additional severe weather patterns from eastern Texas to northwestern Florida.

Cindy’s maximum winds have decreased to nearly 40 miles per hour on Thursday morning, with additional decreases expected.

            It is reported that, “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 boy from Missouri was stand outside a condominium in Fort Morgan when the log, carried in by a large wave, struck him.  Arthur said the youth was vacationing with his family from the St. Louis area and that relatives and emergency workers tried to revive him.  He wasn’t immediately identified.”

The fatality of the ten-year-old was the first known death from the storm.  The storm was then blamed for severe coastal highway flooding, power outages, building damage and undoubted rough seas.  National Weather Service forecasters predicted that Cindy precipitated about 10 inches of rain along the Gulf Coast with more rain to come.

Alek Krautmann of the National Weather Service said that Thursday’s weather pattern would be much like Wednesday’s in Louisiana: “Bands of intermittent, sometimes heavy rain spinning onto the coast.”

Southwest Louisiana saw, close to where Cindy broke ashore, truck-drivers motoring through knee-high water throughout the streets.  Other drivers, on the other hand, pulled over in order to avoid navigating the amphibious landscape.

Kathleen Bertucci of Gulfport, Mississippi said that heavy rainfall on Wednesday had flooded her businesses, Top Shop, with 10 inches of water—Top Shop sells and installs granite countertops.  She describes the incident, saying, “It’s pretty disgusting, but I don’t have flood insurance because they took me out of the flood zone.  We’re just trying to clean everything up and hope it doesn’t happen again.”

With the White House pummeled by various issues around the world, Homeland Security Adviser Tom Bossert briefed President Trump on the storm on Wednesday.

ABC News writes, “In Knoxville, Tennessee, the power-generating Tennessee Valley Authority, said it was drawing down water levels on nine lakes it controls along the Tennessee River and its tributaries in Tennessee, Alabama and Kentucky, anticipating heavy runoff from Cindy’s rains once the storm moves inland.  The TVA manages 49 dams to regulate water, provide power and help control downstream flooding.”

It can be seen that Cindy has devastated multiple states and countless citizens along the Gulf Coast.  As inclement weather conditions continue to weaken, victims of the storm must remain hopeful to rebuild together.

Featured Image via Wikimedia Commons