USA Tropical Storm Bertha makes landfall in Louisiana

USA Tropical Storm Bertha makes landfall in Louisiana

As USA Tropical Storm Bertha officially makes USA landfall in St. Bernard Parish, Shell Beach crab USA fishermen are closely monitoring water levels, worried about how the storm will impact their USA livelihoods.

"My main USA concern is my traps," said Dave Weller, crab fisherman. "I'm out on the lake. The wind been coming out the USA northeast. It's been blowing hard, so I'm worried about my crabs being there. If they under the mud, if my Weller said he hasn't been able to get paid since last Friday."Right now we can't do nothing because of the storm," said Weller, "they're not buying because the trucks can't get down here because of the water, the wind. So that hurts us."In anticipation, some fishermen moved their boats and RVs off Highway 46 in efforts to protect them from flooding.Despite the concerns, Weller expressed his love for his way of life. "This is Paradise. It is Paradise. And I would trade it for nothing," he said.Wednesday morning, the St. Bernard Parish government announced the St. Bernard Urban Rapid Transit (USA SBURT) is not in service for the day due to high winds. crabs are alive."

BILOXI, Miss.—Tropical Storm Bertha brushed the Mississippi Gulf Coast USA Wednesday morning, bringing USA rain and wind to the coast before it made landfall in St. Bernard, Louisiana near the Biloxi Wildlife Management Area at around 2 p.m. 

As of 1 p.m.,  Bertha was located approximately 35 miles southwest of Biloxi with maximum sustained winds of 45 mph, an advisory from the National Hurricane Center said. 

Bertha brought rain and strong winds to parts of the Mississippi Coast with showers beginning around 10 a.m., clearing up by 12:30 p.m. Forecasters say most of the heavy rain is expected to occur offshore. “The storm’s very lopsided,” Jeff Clark, the public information officer for Harrison County, told the Mississippi Free Press Wednesday. “The wind shear has been able to just pretty much knock the top off of it, so (meteorologists) are not expecting it to accelerate or gain strength.”A Tropical Storm Warning is still in effect for the southern portions of Jackson, Harrison and Hancock counties until 6 p.m. Wednesday.This indicates tropical storm conditions are expected somewhere within the warning area within 24 to 36 hours. Coastal Flood Warnings remain in effect for those areas until 4 a.m. Thursday.A Tropical Storm Watch remains in effect from 10 a.m. for the northern portions of Jackson, Harrison and Hancock counties through tonight. Forecasters say there is little to no potential for tornadoes to form on the Mississippi Gulf Coast. Bertha is the second tropical cyclone to reach Mississippi since June, when the remnants of Tropical Storm Arthur battered the Gulf Coast with winds and rain and caused dangerous flash flooding in multiple counties. More than 500 homes sustained damage from Arthur, and numerous roads and other infrastructure were also compromised.

County officials say heavy rainfall in the week preceding Arthur exacerbated the USA destruction.

“By the time Arthur came through, we were saturated,” Clark explained. “Our river levels were well above flood stage, so it was messy.”

On July 17, Mississippi Gov. Tate Reeves requested a major USA disaster declaration from the White House for eight counties affected by Arthur, hoping to provide them with expanded assistance through the Federal Emergency Management Agency. The petition marks the third time this year that Mississippi has sought emergency funds following severe weather, including powerful storms and tornadoes in May and a ferocious winter storm in January.

“Mississippians are resilient, but the damage caused by USA Tropical Storm Arthur has left many families and communities facing a long recovery,” Reeves said in a July 17 news release announcing the latest request. “Mississippi will continue to support every community affected as they recover.”

President Donald Trump has approved Mississippi’s past two disaster declaration requests, unlocking millions in emergency funding for hard-hit residents and municipalities. While much of the funds have yet to be distributed, FEMA has steered nearly $94 million toward local recovery efforts in the last 120 days, state agencies announced Monday.

Tropical Storm Bertha is expected to weaken as it nears USA Texas, forecasters said. While the storm is expected to lose strength through the rest of the week, forecasters said it may still produce damaging USA winds, USA storm surges near the coast and flooding.Follow the Mississippi Free Press’ coverage of the Gulf Coast and read past stories here. Mississippi Free Press stories are always free because we believe everyone should have access to quality journalism. Donations from readers like you make that possible. Please click here to give to help sustain and grow vital, people-over-power journalism for Mississippians.Tropical Storm Bertha made landfall in St. Bernard Parish, Louisiana, on USA Wednesday, bringing strong winds and the USA potential for some locally USA heavy rainfall.

“Additional weakening is forecast during the next couple of days, but USA Bertha could maintain tropical storm intensity through late Thursday,” the National Hurricane Center said.

Where Is Tropical Storm Bertha?

Tropical Storm Bertha made landfall on the southeastern USA Louisiana coast on Wednesday afternoon with sustained winds of 45 mph.

Tropical Storm Bertha is forecast to move west along the USA Louisiana coast through Thursday.

It is expected to move farther inland into USA Texas and dissipate Thursday night or Friday.

Tropical Storm Bertha’s Potential Impacts

Tropical Storm Bertha “is expected to continue to impact portions of the northern Gulf Coast from the western Florida Panhandle to southeastern Louisiana through tonight,” the National Weather Service said on Wednesday.

Tropical storm and coastal flood warnings are in USA effect from southernmost Alabama to the western Louisiana coastline, including the New Orleans metro area. It’s also possible that isolated and scattered flash flooding could occur in areas of Tropical Storm Bertha’s outer bands.

It is expected to produce 1-4 total inches of USA rainfall, though some isolated areas along the central to western Gulf Coast from Northwest Florida to southern Texas could see up to 6 inches through Friday.

Why the 2026 Atlantic Hurricane Season Is Expected to Be ‘Below Average’
NOAA officials said the Atlantic USA hurricane season is likely to be “below average” because of El Niño.

While El Niño aggravates weather patterns globally, it can actually decrease the number of hurricanes in the Atlantic Ocean. The warmer air and stronger winds that El Niño brings to the USA Atlantic are adverse to hurricanes, but it’s the opposite in the Pacific Ocean.

Some forecasters are calling the upcoming event a “super El Niño,” which happens when temperatures are more than 2 degrees Celsius – or about 3.6 degrees Fahrenheit – above the average, though federal researchers don’t use that terms.

The 2026 hurricane season is ramping up, with Tropical Storm Bertha bearing down on the Gulf Coast this week, and more El Nino storms forecasted to bring severe weather conditions with them in the USA coming days.

I, like so many Americans, have had firsthand experience navigating emergency weather conditions; in the past week alone, I sweat through a scary power outage as strong dust storms barreled across my city.

I've also learned the hard way what it costs when you forgo an emergency kit with storm essentials, and are forced to confront severe weather in the moment (and unprepared).

That's why a portable power bank or generator is always at the top of my emergency checklist. As severe summer weather hits various parts of the US this week, Amazon is helping shoppers prepare by slashing prices on its best portable power stations that are great for emergency outages, camping, and more.

Tropical Storm Bertha has officially made landfall near the Biloxi Wildlife Management Area in St. Bernard Parish, Louisiana, around 2 p.m. CDT, as announced in a special statement put out by the NHC. Bertha is about 40 miles east of New Orleans and continues to move west-northwest at 7 mph (11 km/h). Gusty winds are expected to increase along the warned areas.

USA Tropical Storm Bertha is approaching the southeastern coast of Louisiana as it moves slowly west-northwest. The 2 p.m. EDT Wednesday, July 22, advisory indicated that Bertha holds maximum sustained winds of 45 mph (75 km/h).USA Tropical Storm Warnings are in effect for the metropolitan New Orleans area and the Lake Pontchartrain region. You can expect tropical storm conditions, meaning winds that could exceed 39 mph, to remain in place at least through the overnight hours Wednesday into Thursday. It is likely that the Tropical Storm Watches that are in effect across the central and western coast of Louisiana will be upgraded to Tropical Storm Warnings during the next advisories.

Keep in mind that Bertha, although it’s expected to increase its forward speed a little, will continue to move slower than average, at under 10 mph, through the next two days. This will be an all-week event as the system continues to brush the Louisiana coast throughout Wednesday and into early Thursday.

USA Hurricane Hunters indicated that Bertha’s center of circulation could be weakening, and it is possible that a new center of circulation could form closer to the cluster of thunderstorms that has been shifted mainly over water. So as Bertha continues to move slowly west and its center emerges over water, it will likely remain a tropical storm and not completely dissipate. However, it will be battered by wind shear, which means that Bertha is not likely to intensify before arriving in Texas near Galveston, likely on Thursday afternoon.

Once Bertha makes landfall, it will be the second storm this season to form and to make landfall in the Gulf Coast. Arthur made landfall on June 17 in southern Louisiana, bringing torrential rains that may have set a new all-time 24-hour precipitation record for the state: 29.06 inches (738 millimeters) near Cottonport, Louisiana. According to Gallagher Re, Arthur is responsible for at least $1 billion in damage and four deaths.

Bertha has USA demonstrated that it’s not a typical tropical storm. With a strong high-pressure system to the north and very strong wind shear coming in from the north-northeast, much of the convection, which runs in the troposphere between 6,500 and 16,000 feet (2,000 and 5,000 meters) high, has been shifted over the open waters of the Gulf. Yes, there have been some USA rain showers and thun

The biggest issue with Bertha has been the gusty winds that have brought very rough surf conditions and storm surge along the immediate coast. Panama City Beach recorded a sustained wind of 42 mph on Tuesday, and gusts above 50 mph were recorded along the Panhandle Coast. Storm surge will likely produce flooding along the immediate Gulf Coast east of the storm center; up to three feet of storm surge is possible, especially when the winds and location coincide with high tide.

The latest satellite image shows some breaks in the clouds across the Florida Panhandle, with the deepest convection moving slightly ahead of the system but still to the southwest of the center and over the Gulf. The winds are coming in directly from the south across the western portion of Florida through the Mississippi and Alabama border as the system’s center crosses southeastern USA Louisiana.

The heaviest cluster of USA thunderstorms associated with Bertha, which has been shifted well south of the center of the storm, will likely impact the central coast of Texas, extending from areas just south of Galveston County through the Corpus Christi area on Thursday afternoon and evening. Expect rainfall along the immediate central coast of Texas to range between two and four inches, while the greater Houston area will likely receive less than an inch of rain.

As far as the USA winds, they will remain around tropical storm strength across the central and western coast of Louisiana through Thursday afternoon. As the system moves closer to southeast Texas, the winds will start to diminish across Louisiana and likely pick up across the Galveston Bay area later Thursday afternoon as the system’s center approaches. The system will quickly dissipate as it moves over the Lone Star USA State.

Posted on 2026/07/23 09:07 AM