NEW ORLEANS — NEW ORLEANS (AP) - Tropical Depression Cindy crept northward across Louisiana toward Arkansas after churning ashore as a tropical storm early Thursday, weakening steadily but still spreading heavy rain and thunderstorms over hundreds of miles of territory from east Texas through a broad swath of the Southeast.
As a slow-moving tropical storm that formed Tuesday in the Gulf of Mexico, Cindy was blamed for one death: authorities said a 10-year-old boy vacationing with relatives on the Alabama coast was struck by a log brought in by the stormy surf. Cindy also caused widespread highway and street flooding and several short-lived tornadoes, but no other deaths or serious injuries were reported as of midday Thursday.
[ CHANNEL 11 EXAMINES HOW CINDY WILL AFFECT WESTERN PA. WEATHER ]
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Off Texas, the U.S. Coast Guard helped the four-member crew of a shrimp trawler limp back to shore at Freeport after the crew radioed a distress call that they were in danger of sinking early Wednesday. A helicopter crew lowered a spare pump to the trawler, allowing the crew to stay afloat while a cutter escorted the vessel to safety.
Authorities continued to warn that driving rains spinning off from the storm could still cause dangerous flash floods.
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"That continues to be the threat," said Ken Graham, of the National Weather Service Office near New Orleans. "Not only around the center of Cindy. The impact of rain can be hundreds of miles away."
Heavy rain was forecast to spread over the Tennessee and Ohio valleys on Thursday, then move Friday and Saturday into the central Appalachians. At 10 a.m. CDT Thursday, Cindy was about 165 miles (265 kilometers) northwest of Morgan City and moving to the north at 13 mph (20 kph).
National Weather Service forecasters said the storm had dumped from 2 to 10 inches (50 to 250 millimeters) of rain on various spots along the Gulf Coast from southern Louisiana to the Florida panhandle as of Wednesday.