Bertha Makes Landfall Near New Orleans

Tropical Storm Bertha crawled into southern Louisiana on Wednesday, making landfall and packing strong winds far from its center after closing beaches from the Florida Panhandle to Mississippi. The National Hurricane Center said Bertha made landfall in St. Bernard Parish, about 40 miles east of New Orleans. The wind and storm surge were the main threats for the Deep South states, the AP reports. Parks and piers were closed up and down the coast, as were some low-lying roads. A tropical storm warning stretched from Alabama over to Louisiana, including New Orleans and Lake Pontchartrain, where extreme heat was also adding to misery, the National Hurricane Center said.

Tropical storm force winds were felt as much as 100 miles from the center of the storm, the hurricane center said. The storm will weaken steadily now that it's reached land and is unlikely to leave behind widespread damage, Louisiana State Climatologist Jay Grymes says. The impact should be manageable for coastal communities, he said. Gov. Jeff Landry called the forecast "encouraging" but also warned residents to be prepared for some flooding.

• Storm surges up to 3 feet were possible in Louisiana and Alabama, forecasters said. Rain totals were forecast between 1 to 4 inches, with higher amounts possible in isolated areas.
• Bertha is expected to continue losing strength over the next few days as it heads toward Texas after the storm earlier trudged past the Florida Panhandle and the tips of Alabama and Mississippi. At landfall, the storm's maximum sustained winds were around 45 mph.
• Southern Louisiana was under tropical storm and extreme heat warnings for much of Wednesday—a rare double dose of suffering, the National Weather Service said. It's the first time in at least two decades that's happened in the area, the weather service said, citing records that date back to 2005.
• Bertha's moisture will also fuel a major East Coast flooding threat, CNN reports. Forecasters say Bertha's moisture, added to a stalled storm system, could cause flooding in Virginia and much of the Southeast, as far west as Atlanta.