Tropical Storm Bertha made landfall a second time on Thursday near the Texas-Louisiana border after skirting southern Louisiana. The storm’s slow movement brought high waves and some flooding along the U.S. Gulf Coast. Meteorologists have warned of potential further flooding as heavy rainfall moves inland into southeast Texas.
By Thursday afternoon, Bertha was moving inland about 120 kilometers (75 miles) northeast of Galveston, Texas, according to the National Hurricane Center (NHC). Three hours later, it remained a tropical storm, but its maximum sustained winds had decreased to 65 km/h (40 mph). The storm is expected to weaken overnight.
The dense clouds from Bertha led SpaceX to cancel a scheduled launch of a Starship rocket on Thursday night from southern Texas. The test flight, which would have briefly reached space, was postponed to Friday, when clear skies are expected. No deaths or significant damage have been reported since Bertha formed on Monday in the Gulf of Mexico, south of Florida’s northwestern tip.
The storm caused some coastal flooding when it first made landfall on Wednesday in Louisiana, southwest of New Orleans, but the heaviest rains remained over the Gulf waters. These rain bands began moving inland on Thursday, impacting southeast Texas’s coastline. A tropical storm warning remained in effect from Sargent, Texas, to the boundary between Vermilion and Cameron Parishes in Louisiana.
The hurricane center stated Bertha still poses a risk of storm surges up to 60 centimeters (2 feet) along the coast and may cause isolated flash flooding from heavy downpours in coastal and southern Texas.
The storm’s tropical-storm-force winds extended to 225 kilometers (140 miles) from its center on Thursday. Despite this, experts predict the storm will weaken as it moves over the interior of Texas and dissipate by Friday.
Businesses in Galveston remain open. In Galveston, an island city with 53,000 residents southeast of Houston, local officials advised residents to prepare for “a windy day” and to secure any outdoor items that could become projectiles in strong winds. According to the Galveston Office of Emergency Management, ‘Although no significant impacts are expected, some thunderstorms with gusts could move across the island throughout the day.’
The Galveston Historic Seaport preemptively canceled its boat tours for Thursday, but operations continued normally otherwise, said employee Jesi Hahn. “We’ll definitely be open,” said Hahn. “We typically close only for major hurricanes.” At the nearby Harbor House Hotel and Marina, employee Justin Timber mentioned no canceled reservations. “Seems like a normal day,” he remarked. “Restaurants are full. Everything’s great.”
In Florida, the storm caused minor damage. Electricity outages along the coast were minimal, according to the poweroutage.us website. Despite this, Bertha’s passage wasn’t entirely harmless. In Pensacola, Florida, authorities closed an area around a wharf damaged by the storm, reported Mayor D.C. Reeves on Facebook. He shared a photo showing damage to part of the support structure and a fence.
Earlier in the week, strong winds knocked a Waffle House sign onto a car in Panama City Beach, Florida. High surf and the risk of rip currents prompted beach warnings along the Gulf Coast, advising swimmers to stay out of the water.
Bertha is the second tropical storm of the Atlantic hurricane season. Tropical Storm Arthur, in June, brought heavy rains to the southeastern United States. In the eastern Pacific, Hurricane Fausto was moving away from land. The hurricane was more than 1,600 kilometers (1,000 miles) west-southwest of the southern tip of Baja California, with maximum sustained winds of 130 km/h (80 mph).
The hurricane center noted that swells from Fausto could cause high waves and potentially deadly rip currents in parts of southern California.