Tropical Storm Bertha, which formed Monday night near Florida\u2019s Gulf coast, threatens a wide swath from the Panhandle to southern Texas with potential flooding and surge, posing particular risk to low-lying Louisiana, forecasters said Tuesday.<\/p>\n
There is a risk of flash flooding through Friday on the Gulf Coast, including for western Florida north of Fort Myers, according to the National Hurricane center.<\/p>\n
Bertha\u2019s path<\/a> will likely determine its intensity. If it takes a path closer to the coast, the less chance it has to gain strength over the warm waters of the Gulf. But drenching rainfall would pose a greater risk to coastal communities.<\/p>\n If Bertha intensifies over the Gulf, \u201cstrengthening to perhaps a high-end tropical storm or hurricane would be possible,\u201d according to AccuWeather.<\/p>\n As of 5 a.m., Bertha was about 110 miles south-southwest of Panama City and 170 miles southeast of Mobile, Alabama, moving northwest at 5 mph, according to the National Hurricane Center.<\/p>\n Its maximum sustained winds were at 50 mph with higher gusts, and tropical-storm-force winds extend up to 80 miles from the center.<\/p>\n A tropical storm warning is in effect from the Florida\/Alabama border west to the Jefferson\/Plaquemines Parish border in Louisiana. A storm surge watch is in effect for the Alabama\/Florida border to the mouth of the Mississippi River, the National Hurricane Center said.<\/p>\n A tropical storm watch is in effect for New Orleans, Lake Pontchartrain and from Florida\u2019s Gulf\/Bay county line west to the Alabama\/Florida border.<\/p>\n Outer bands of the storm will bring heavy rain to parts of North Florida and ocean hazards to the Panhandle, the Florida Division of Emergency Management said in a post on X. The counties under a tropical storm watch are Bay, Escambia, Franklin, Gulf, Okaloosa, Santa Rosa and Walton.<\/p>\n The storm is expected to generate wind gusts up to 60 mph from the western Florida Panhandle to southeastern Texas, according to AccuWeather, in addition to the risk of flooding.<\/p>\n \u201cIt is expected to move<\/a> \u201cnear or along the northern Gulf coast during the next several days,\u201d the hurricane center said, \u201cbringing at least 2 to 4 inches of rain with locally higher localized totals around 6 inches through Thursday along the Gulf Coast and adjacent inland locations from western Florida into Southern Louisiana Coast and southern portions of Alabama and Mississippi.\u201d<\/p>\n