Tropical Storm Bertha continues to move along the Gulf Coast, bringing tropical storm-force wind gusts and hazardous beach conditions. However, its most significant impacts may be felt hundreds of miles away in the mid-Atlantic, where a plume of tropical moisture linked to Bertha is fueling a serious flood threat.
East Coast Flood Threat
The disorganized tropical storm was centered south of the Louisiana coast early Thursday with maximum sustained winds of 45 mph. Bertha will move near or along the Louisiana and upper Texas coasts through Thursday afternoon before moving inland over Texas by Thursday night.
A cold front draped across southeast Virginia, parts of the Carolinas, and northern Georgia is being supercharged by the moisture from Bertha, potentially producing more serious impacts than those occurring near the storm itself. The storm could bring 2 to 4 inches of rain, with isolated totals of 6 inches, along the Texas Gulf Coast and in South Texas, potentially causing isolated flash flooding.
The influx of moisture and the stalling front have already produced bands of rain in eastern Tennessee, southern Virginia, and northern North Carolina. Storms in northeastern Tennessee prompted flash flood warnings to the north of Knoxville on Wednesday morning, with some places seeing up to 5 inches of rain within a few hours.
More rounds of rain are expected through Friday, and some areas could receive a month’s worth of rain in just a few days. The rainfall in southern Virginia and North Carolina is needed to help quench drought conditions there, but too much rain repeating over the same areas over hours or days could quickly trigger dangerous flash flooding.
Flood Risk and Warning
A Level 3 of 4 risk of flooding rain is in place for a portion of the Virginia-North Carolina border Thursday into Friday morning. Thursday afternoon’s thunderstorms could pack rainfall rates up to 2 inches per hour — an intensity that can quickly overwhelm drainage systems and flood urban areas.
Atlanta, Birmingham, Alabama, and Charlotte, North Carolina, are among the cities at risk. The flood threat will continue Friday, when a Level 2 of 4 risk stretches from coastal North Carolina through South Carolina, northern Georgia, and into northeast Alabama.
Original reporting: El Paso News (HLL/CB) — read the source article.
