NEW ORLEANS (AP) - Tropical Storm Cindy formed Tuesday in the Gulf of Mexico, hovering south of Louisiana as it churned tides and spun bands of heavy, potentially flooding rain onto the central and eastern Gulf Coast.
The center of the storm is projected to make landfall sometime Thursday morning over southeastern Texas or southwestern Louisiana. The cyclone had top sustained winds of 45 mph (75 kph) and was almost stationary for hours, but was expected to resume a crawl toward the northwest in coming hours.
As of the NHC's 11 a.m. EDT advisory update, a tropical storm warning is in effect along the USA coast from High Island, Texas, east to the mouth of the Pearl River along the border of Louisiana and Mississippi.
Maximum sustained winds are near 60 miles per hour with higher gusts.
STORM SURGE: Inundation of 1 to 3 feet above ground level is possible along the coast in portions of the Tropical Storm Warning area.
Meanwhile, Tropical Storm Bret is moving along South America's northern coast.
He also said the storm should move out of the area on Friday. Bret weakened Tuesday and is now a remnant low pressure system.
As of press time (8:20pm, Tuesday) the most likely target zone for flooding goes from Lexington-Louisville south Memphis-Nashville to the Gulf Coast. University of Miami hurricane researcher Brian McNoldy said they are the first dueling storms to appear in the Atlantic before July in 49 years.
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The Louisiana National Guard dispatched high water vehicles and helicopters into flood-prone areas.
It's unusual for storms to form this early in the Gulf of Mexico, but they have happened in the past. Coastal areas in southeast Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama could receive 12 inches of rain or more from the storm.
Alabama Governor Kay Ivey has declared a state of emergency for the entire state of Alabama, due to the significant threat of flooding throughout the region.
Coastal Louisiana is under a tropical storm warning. By 11 a.m. ET Wednesday, the storm was 170 miles southwest of Morgan City, La., and about 180 southeast of Galveston, Texas.
Forecasters say some areas of Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and Florida could see a foot of rain.
While the center will be near the Louisiana / Texas line, the bulk of the rain extend far east of the middle of the story. all the way to Florida.
The weather service has warned that the storm brings the threat of "life-threatening flash flooding".
"Cindy does not look much like a tropical cyclone on satellite images this morning", Senior Hurricane Specialist Richard Pasch wrote in a post on the National Hurricane Center's website.
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