NEW ORLEANS: Rain pounded the US Gulf Coast on Sunday ahead of the arrival of Tropical Storm Cristobal, which has already spawned a tornado in Florida and threatened more twisters along with high winds and storm surge.

Roads flooded in coastal Louisiana and Mississippi, and thousands were without power even before the the storm made landfall. It was expected to arrive on US soil late on Sunday, though it was not expected to grow into a hurricane.

Forecasters warned the storm would affect a wide area stretching roughly 180 miles (290 kilometres) east into Florida. But they forecast the worst impacts in southeast Louisiana and southern Mississippi, where some spots could get up to 12 inches of rain and storm surges of several feet. Tornadoes were also a danger.

Its very efficient, very tropical rainfall, National Hurricane Center Director Ken Graham said in a Facebook video. It rains a whole bunch real quick.

On evacuated Grand Isle in Louisiana, a highway was underwater and much of the island wasn’t passable, Jefferson Parish Councilman Ricky Templet told The Times-Picayune/New Orleans Advocate. Templet plans to stay on the island during the storm and said he hasn’t seen water levels this high since a 2012 hurricane.

The Sewerage & Water Board of New Orleans said the city’s drainage system had limits and was old, so residents should avoid underpasses and low-lying areas where water can pool during inevitable street flooding.

In Biloxi, Mississippi, a pier was almost submerged by Sunday morning. Squalls with tropical-force winds had reached the mouth of the Mississippi River and conditions were expected to deteriorate, the National Hurricane Center in Miami said. Cristobals maximum sustained winds remained at 50 mph (85 kph), and it was moving north at 12 mph (19 kph).

But the storm already made its presence felt Saturday evening with a tornado that touched down near downtown Orlando, the National Weather Service said. The twister just missed a group of protesters at Lake Eola at around 7:30 p.m. There appeared to be no injuries, but tree limbs were knocked down, and there were reports of power outages.

Yes, it is related to the tropical storm that is well to our west, said Scott Kelly, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Melbourne, Florida. But the tropical storm provided a lot of low level shear and that has allowed for some tornadoes to form over Central Florida.

A tropical storm warning was posted for the northern Gulf of Mexico coast from Intracoastal City, Louisiana, to the Alabama-Florida border.

Storm surge warnings and watches were in effect in Louisiana and Mississippi, with flooding up to 5 feet (1.5 metres) expected in some places.

Forecasters said the storm’s center will move inland across Louisiana late on Sunday through early Monday and then head north across Arkansas and Missouri on Monday afternoon and into Tuesday.

In Louisiana, Gov. John Bel Edwards has declared a state of emergency to prepare for the storms possible arrival.

Now is the time to make your plans, which should include the traditional emergency items along with masks and hand sanitizer as we continue to battle the coronavirus pandemic, Edwards said in a statement released on Thursday.

On Friday, he asked President Donald Trump to declare a pre-landfall emergency for the state due to the storm’s threat.

Published in Dawn, June 8th, 2020