NEW ORLEANS (AP) -- Tropical Storm Claudette dumped heavy rain across coastal areas of Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama as it chugged inland Saturday, threatening flash floods and possibly tornadoes along its soggy course across the Southeast.
The National Hurricane Center declared Claudette organized enough to qualify as a named storm at 4 a.m. Saturday, well after the storm's center of circulation had come ashore southwest of New Orleans. It was north of the city three hours later, with maximum sustained winds of 45 mph (72 kph) as the storm plodded to the northeast at 12 mph (19 kph). The heaviest rains were far from the center, near the Mississippi-Alabama state line.
Tornado warnings were issued from the Mississippi coast to the western Florida panhandle. In Mobile County, Alabama, someone reported storm damage to a fishing pier on Dauphin Island, Alabama, said Glen Brannan of the county Emergency Management Agency. He said there were no reports of injuries.
"We've got little squalls running through. It'll rain really really hard for a few minutes and slack up for a few minutes," Brannan said early Saturday. "Just a lot of water on the roads."