{"id":348392,"date":"2026-07-22T10:26:31","date_gmt":"2026-07-22T10:26:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/348392\/"},"modified":"2026-07-22T10:26:31","modified_gmt":"2026-07-22T10:26:31","slug":"tropical-storm-bertha-moves-toward-florida-panhandle-and-alabama","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/348392\/","title":{"rendered":"Tropical Storm Bertha moves toward Florida Panhandle and Alabama"},"content":{"rendered":"

Tropical Storm Bertha<\/a> strengthened in the Gulf of Mexico on Tuesday but was expected to weaken this week as it chugs closer to the U.S., potentially bringing coastal flooding and heavy rain from the Florida Panhandle to Louisiana.<\/p>\n

Those areas along the northern Gulf Coast were under a tropical storm warning through Wednesday and could see rain and flooding into Thursday morning, the Miami-based National Hurricane Center said. New Orleans also was under a tropical storm warning. <\/p>\n

The storm was about 120 miles (190 kilometers) southwest of Panama City, Florida, and 105 miles (170 kilometers) southeast of Mobile, Alabama, Tuesday evening. It was moving at 6 mph (9 kph) to the west with maximum sustained winds near 60 mph (95 kph), the hurricane center said. Gradual weakening was forecast Wednesday through Friday.<\/p>\n

Bertha was forecast to make landfall Wednesday night somewhere in the coastal and lightly populated part of Louisiana southeast of New Orleans, said Michael Buchanan, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Louisiana. <\/p>\n

Wind will be biggest threat there, he said. <\/p>\n

Authorities open sites to distribute sandbags<\/p>\n

Authorities in Mississippi, Louisiana and Florida opened sites to provide sandbags to residents while red flag warnings were posted along some beaches advising swimmers about the dangers of rip tides. <\/p>\n

Up and down the coast, double red flags signaled that Gulf waters were closed for swimming.<\/p>\n

Beaches near Pensacola, Florida, were mostly deserted except for tourists venturing out to take photos of the pounding surf. <\/p>\n

\u201cFor locals, this is just another storm,\u201d said Candice Henderson, manager of the Crab Trap, a beachside restaurant that was packed Tuesday on Pensacola\u2019s Perdido Key. \u201cWhen you\u2019re on vacation and its raining, you either shop or you go out to eat.\u201d <\/p>\n

The storm was expected to weaken as it moves along the coast, said Jamie Rhome of the hurricane center. It\u2019s possible that the worst of the storm will stay offshore, he said Tuesday. <\/p>\n

Bertha was expected to weaken further as it pushes into Texas, forecasters said.<\/p>\n

Forecasts called for as much as 2 to 4 inches (5 to 10 centimeters) of rain from western Florida to the southern Louisiana coastline, with higher amounts in some scattered areas.<\/p>\n

That could cause flash flooding in some urban areas. <\/p>\n

Authorities also advised that areas in Louisiana from the mouth of the Mississippi River to the Alabama-Mississippi state line could see storm surges of up to 4 feet (1.2 meters). Parts of Florida and Alabama could see smaller surges.<\/p>\n

The tropical storm warning extended west to Morgan City, Louisiana. <\/p>\n

Bertha is the second tropical storm of the Atlantic hurricane season<\/p>\n

Bertha is the second tropical storm of the Atlantic hurricane season<\/a>. Tropical Storm Arthur last month<\/a> brought heavy rainfall to the southeastern U.S.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\n AP AUDIO: Tropical Storm Bertha in the Gulf of Mexico is moving toward the Florida Panhandle and Alabama\n <\/p>\n

AP correspondent Haya Panjwani reports on Tropical Storm Bertha.<\/p>\n

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration expects this year to see a below-average Atlantic hurricane season although that doesn\u2019t eliminate the chances of a catastrophic storm. <\/p>\n

Bertha could dump heavy rain on coastal areas of Mississippi that are still recovering from flooding brought by Arthur that destroyed and damaged homes in June. <\/p>\n

\u201cBecause of that, people are definitely paying attention, or at least you would hope so,\u201d said Jeff Clark, a spokesperson for Mississippi\u2019s Harrison County, where six sites were open for sandbag distribution. <\/p>\n

So far, there hasn\u2019t been a need to open any shelters or order evacuations, Clark said on Tuesday. <\/p>\n

Hurricane Fausto churns in the Pacific<\/p>\n

In the eastern Pacific Ocean, Hurricane Fausto churned far from Mexico\u2019s Baja California peninsula and posed no threat to land, the hurricane center said.<\/p>\n

Fausto gained hurricane<\/a> status Monday night. It was about 780 miles (1,260 kilometers) southwest of the southern tip of Baja California, had top sustained winds of 75 mph (120 kph) and was moving west-northwest at 12 mph (19 kph).<\/p>\n

The storm was expected to strengthen Tuesday and Wednesday. No coastal watches or warnings were in effect, though ocean swells generated by the storm could cause life-threatening surf and rip tide conditions on the Baja California coast, the center said.<\/p>\n

___<\/p>\n

Associated Press journalists Kimberly Chandler in Montgomery, Alabama, Stephen Smith in New Orleans, and Haya Panjwani in Washington contributed.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Tropical Storm Bertha strengthened in the Gulf of Mexico on Tuesday but was expected to weaken this week…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":348393,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[142621,1838,22201,1882,28,30,29,477,21427,142623,142624,38296,5734,142622,16495,53473,1272,5537,21682,1110,221,10645],"class_list":["post-348392","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-florida","tag-candice-henderson","tag-climate-and-environment","tag-coastlines-and-beaches","tag-fl-state-wire","tag-florida","tag-florida-headlines","tag-florida-news","tag-general-news","tag-hurricanes-and-typhoons","tag-jamie-rhome","tag-jeff-clark","tag-la-state-wire","tag-louisiana","tag-michael-buchanan","tag-mississippi","tag-ms-state-wire","tag-storms","tag-texas","tag-tx-state-wire","tag-u-s-news","tag-weather","tag-world-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/348392","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=348392"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/348392\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/348393"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=348392"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=348392"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=348392"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}