Coastal Mississippi has escaped the worst of Laura’s damage, but emergency managers are cautioning residents to remain alert for wind gusts that could knock down limbs and water in some low-lying areas of Hancock and Harrison counties.
The National Hurricane Center says Laura will move across Arkansas on Thursday night, the mid-Mississippi Valley on Friday and the mid-Atlantic states on Saturday.
Laura was about to be downgraded to a tropical storm as it moved inland, with maximum sustained winds just over Category 1 strength at 10 a.m. Thursday, the National Hurricane Center said.
Water from storm-surge covered low-lying roads in Hancock County, said emergency manager Brian Adam, including Bay St. Louis thoroughfares Lagan Street, Central Avenue, Chapman Road, Ranier Street and a portion of North Beach Boulevard; Hancock County’s South Beach Boulevard around Clermont Harbor and Lakeshore Road at the Silver Slipper Casino, Jourdan River Shores, Harbor Drive and the Heron Bay area.
Adam said he expects the water to subside in the early evening or Thursday night. Some low-lying roads in Harrison County at Henderson Point also flooded, emergency manager Rupert Lacy said, but the water was subsiding Thursday morning.
A tornado watch is in effect until 4 p.m. Thursday for a swath of western Mississippi from around the McComb area north to Cleveland. Rain bands could produce severe storms and damaging winds, the National Weather Service in Jackson says.
Counties under the tornado watch are Adams, Amite, Bolivar, Claiborne, Coahoma, Copiah, Franklin, Hinds, Holmes, Humphries, Issaquena, Jefferson, Jefferson Davis, Lawrence, Leflore, Lincoln, Madison, Marion, Pike, Rankin, Sharkey, Simpson, Sunflower, Walthall, Warren, Washington, Wilkinson and Yazoo.
A flash-flood watch continues for Wathall, Amite, Pike and Wilkinson counties, with 2 to 5 inches of rain possible through this evening.
A small-craft advisory remains in effect for Mississippi coastal waters until 7 p.m. Thursday.
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