Two dozen people had to be rescued from a flooded parking lot in Georgia, where the water was chest-deep on Tuesday. Pictured, the water reaching up to the car's windows
Two dozen people had to be rescued from a flooded parking lot in Georgia, where the water was chest-deep on Tuesday. Pictured, the water reaching up to the car's windows

Tropical Storm Cindy has claimed its first victim after a 10-year-old boy was struck by a log washed in by storm surge while he was on vacation with his family on the Alabama coast.

The storm's center, which is still off the coast of Louisiana, is expected to hit land by late Wednesday or early Thursday, before traveling north to Arkansas and east towards Tennessee.

More than 17 million people along the Gulf Coast are bracing themselves for life-threatening flash floods and scrambling to batten down the hatches as tropical storm warnings were issued in Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, and Alabama.

Torrential downpour and winds nearing 60 miles per hour have already hit the region, and more than a foot of rain threatens southeastern Louisiana to the Florida Panhandle by Thursday.

'It's kind of like a slow-motion disaster for us now. It's not wind, it's rain we're concerned about,' said Greg Flynn with the Mississippi Emergency Management Service.


The storm is expected to make landfall on the coast of Texas and Louisiana by Thursday before hitting Arkansas on Friday and moving north east to Tennessee on Saturday.

But the Gulf Coast was already feeling Cindy's wrath.

The storm claimed the life of a boy from Missouri, who was hit by a log that crashed in on a large wave in Fort Morgan, Alabama, on Wednesday morning, Baldwin County Sheriff's Capt. Stephen Arthur said.

Relatives and emergency workers tried unsuccessfully to resuscitate the boy, whose name has not yet been released.

In Gwinnett County, Georgia, two dozen people had to be rescued from a flooded parking lot, where the water was chest-deep on Tuesday.

Flooding was also reported on Alabama's Dauphin Island and flood control locks and gates were being closed along Louisiana's bayou-marbled coast.

To make matters worse, a tornado watch was issued from Louisiana to Florida, and cyclones were spotted across Mississippi on Wednesday (pictured, a watersprout in Biloxi, MS)
To make matters worse, a tornado watch was issued from Louisiana to Florida, and cyclones were spotted across Mississippi on Wednesday (pictured, a watersprout in Biloxi, MS)
Residents in St. Amant, Louisiana, cleared a container filled with 30,000 sandbags and rushed to protect their homes just nine months after a flood destroyed every fire station and school in the community just nine months ago.

Workers on Grand Isle, Louisiana's barrier island community south of New Orleans, also fought the clock to reinforce a rock levee protecting the island's vulnerable west side.

A voluntary evacuation was also issued in the Bolivar Peninsula in the lone star state on Tuesday, with Galveston County Judge Mark Henry saying: 'Elderly residents and people with medical conditions should make plans to leave the area before dark.'

To make matters worse, a tornado watch was issued from Louisiana to Florida, and cyclones were spotted across Mississippi on Wednesday.

Hundreds of flights were delayed Tuesday at Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport, according to FlightAware. There were dozens of delays there on Wednesday, in addition to 46 at the George Bush Intercontinental Airport in Houston.

Jetblue, along with American, United and Southwest airlines, are allowing passengers scheduled to fly in and out of airports in the region to rebook their flights.

A tropical storm warning was issued from Texas to Alabama, and Florida could be hit with heavy rain as well
A tropical storm warning was issued from Texas to Alabama, and Florida could be hit with heavy rain as well
Rain bands began pushing even before Cindy reached tropical storm strength. It lumbered toward southwestern Louisiana and eastern Texas by Wednesday morning, with the major rain threat stretching from southeastern Louisiana to the Florida Panhandle.

'We could see this thing park on the west side of the state and dump rain until Saturday,' Mississippi Emergency Management Agency Executive Director Lee Smithson said Tuesday.

Cindy's maximum sustained winds were near 60 mph Wednesday morning with slight weakening expected to begin Thursday. But the main danger appeared to be from rain.

he prospect had a real estate manager in Mississippi's coastal Jackson County looking for empty property on higher ground for tenants who might need it.

'We're expecting it to be really bad,' Mark Cumbest said of possible flooding.

Forecasters warned of 6 to 9 inches of rain in southeastern Louisiana, southern Mississippi, southern Alabama, and the Florida Panhandle through Thursday, and rain could total more than 12 inches in localized areas, the National Hurricane Center forecasted.

State and local officials in Louisiana and Mississippi were mulling over emergency declarations.

Alabama's Gov. Key Ivey already declared a state of emergency ahead of the storm in order to 'guarantee state resources' given the threat of torrential rain, dangerous high tides and rip currents.

The city of Biloxi in Mississippi declared a state of emergency, saying it has one of the highest risks of flooding across the state.

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott ordered the State Operations Center on Tuesday to raise its readiness level from level four/normal conditions to level three/increased readiness.

He also activated four Texas Task Force 1 boat squads and two Texas Military Department vehicles squads of five vehicles each to respond to any weather-related emergencies.

The Louisiana National Guard dispatched high water vehicles and helicopters into flood-prone areas. The state said the Federal Emergency Management Agency was moving 125,000 meals and 200,000 liters of water into Louisiana.

Louisiana Gov. John Bel Edwards said the advance notice of the storm gave officials time to put emergency plans in place. Louisiana was slammed with major flooding last summer from an unnamed storm that heavily damaged the Baton Rouge and Lafayette regions.