Weather warnings as tropical depression develops along US Gulf coast

Bertha could bring heavy rain on US Gulf coast, with its center located 110 miles south of Panama City, Florida

Tropical Storm Bertha formed Monday evening in the Gulf of Mexico south of the Florida Panhandle as it drifts erratically toward populated coastal areas, bringing a threat of heavy rain, storm surge and damaging wind gusts.

Meanwhile, in the eastern Pacific Ocean, Hurricane Fausto formed far from Mexico’s Baja California peninsula and posed no threat to land Monday night.

The center of Bertha was located about 110 miles (180 km) south of Panama City, Florida. Maximum sustained winds were around 40 mph, according to an evening advisory from the Miami-based National Hurricane Center.

The slow-moving storm has been drifting erratically, but is expected to stay near or along the northern Gulf coast early this week, bringing heavy rainfall to areas of northern Florida, Alabama, Mississippi and Louisiana as it pushes westward toward Texas. Forecasters said some additional strengthening is expected in the coming hours.

Bertha is the second tropical storm of the Atlantic hurricane season and is expected to make landfall in south-east Louisiana on Wednesday. Tropical Storm Arthur last month brought heavy rainfall to the south-eastern United States.

A storm surge watch was in effect from the Alabama-Florida border westward to the mouth of the Mississippi River in Louisiana. A tropical storm watch, meanwhile, extended from the Mississippi-Alabama border to the line separating Louisiana’s Jefferson and Plaquemines parishes, the NHC added.

The NHC said the storm surge watch indicated a risk of life-threatening coastal flooding from rising water moving inland from the shoreline within the next 48 hours. Combined with high tide, storm surge could flood normally dry coastal areas along parts of the northern Gulf coast.

Water levels could rise by 2-4ft (60-120cm) from the mouth of the Mississippi River to the Alabama-Florida border, with 1-3ft of surge possible across portions of coastal Louisiana and Florida, including Lake Pontchartrain.

The depression was also expected to produce widespread rainfall totals of 2-4in, with isolated amounts of up to 8in through Friday from western Florida to the middle Texas coast. The heavy rain could trigger flash flooding in some areas, while an isolated tornado or two was possible across Florida’s Big Bend region.

Fausto gained hurricane status on Monday night and was about 745 miles (1,200 km) southwest of the southern tip of the Baja California peninsula, forecasters said.

The NHC said Fausto had top sustained winds of 75 mph (120 kph) and was moving to the west-northwest at 9mph 15 (kph).

No coastal watches or warnings were in effect though ocean swells generated by the storm could pummel the Baja California coast and cause life-threatening surf and rip tide conditions, the center said.