Tropical Storm Bertha churned toward a second landfall in Texas on Thursday after grazing southern Louisiana in a slow crawl that triggered heavy surf and some flooding along the Gulf Coast but kept the heaviest rains offshore.
Bertha was located about 100 miles east of Galveston, Texas, late Thursday morning as it crept westward, the National Hurricane Center said. Still packing sustained winds of 45 mph, it was expected to remain a tropical storm until moving onshore later in the day.
No deaths or significant damage have been reported since Bertha formed Monday in the Gulf of Mexico south of the Florida Panhandle. The storm triggered some coastal flooding as its center first struck land Wednesday in Louisiana southwest of New Orleans, but its heaviest rains stayed over the Gulf waters.
A tropical storm warning remained in effect Thursday along the Gulf Coast from Morgan City, Louisiana, to Sargent, Texas. The hurricane center said Bertha could still cause up to 2 feet of storm surge along the coast and trigger isolated flash flooding from heavy rains in coastal and south Texas.
Tropical storm force winds on Thursday extended as far as 160 miles from the storm’s center, the hurricane center said. Still, forecasters expected the storm to weaken rapidly after moving onshore and dissipate over inland Texas by Friday.
In Galveston, local officials urged residents to brace for a “windy day” and secure any outdoor objects that might become airborne projectiles.
PHOTOS: Tropical Storm Bertha moves toward Texas landfall after grazing Louisiana’s coast
“While no significant impacts are forecast, some gusty storms may blow through the island throughout the day,” Galveston’s Office of Emergency Management said in a Facebook post Thursday.
As the storm approached Louisiana on Wednesday, children splashed in the floodwaters as onlookers watched the surge at the Lake Pontchartrain estuary. Residents mowed their lawns even as streets filled up with water.
Strong gales earlier in the week knocked over a Waffle House sign onto a car in Panama City Beach, Florida. Heavy surf and the threat of rip tides had prompted warnings at Gulf Coast beaches for swimmers to stay out of the water.
Bertha is the second tropical storm of the Atlantic hurricane season. Tropical Storm Arthur in June brought heavy rainfall to the southeastern U.S.
In the eastern Pacific Ocean, Hurricane Fausto churned far from land Thursday. The hurricane was more than 1,000 miles west-southwest of the southern tip of Baja California with maximum sustained winds of 80 mph.
The hurricane center said swells generated by Fausto could cause life-threatening surf and rip tides in parts of southern California.
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Bynum reported from Savannah, Georgia.
