Tropical Storm Bertha Makes Landfall in St Bernard Parish, Louisiana: Dangerous Winds, Flooding and Storm Surge Loom

Rainfall forecasts predict 2-4 inches, with potential flash flooding in urban areas. Authorities have opened sandbag distribution sites as residents prepare for the storm’s aftermath.

Tropical Storm Bertha has made landfall in St Bernard Parish, Louisiana, as forecasters warn of damaging winds, coastal flooding and heavy rain across parts of the US Gulf Coast. The storm moved ashore on Wednesday after tracking westwards along the Gulf Coast, prompting tropical storm warnings from the western Florida Panhandle to Morgan City, Louisiana, including the New Orleans metropolitan area and Lake Pontchartrain, according to the US National Hurricane Center (NHC).

Although Bertha is expected to weaken over the coming days, forecasters say it could continue to produce hazardous weather, including storm surges, flash flooding and strong winds.

On Wednesday morning, the storm was centred about 45 miles north-east of the mouth of the Mississippi River. It was moving west at 5mph with maximum sustained winds of 50mph, the NHC said.

While Bertha made landfall in a lightly populated coastal area south-east of New Orleans, meteorologists said its impacts extended well beyond the centre of the storm.

Tropical storm-force winds stretched about 100 miles from the storm’s centre. “Landfall really doesn’t have a whole lot of meaning in this particular case,” Robbie Berg, a warning coordination meteorologist at the National Hurricane Center, said.

NOAA satellite image shows Tropical Storm Bertha

Forecasters warned of storm surges of up to 4ft from the mouth of the Mississippi River to the Alabama-Mississippi state line.

Rainfall totals of 2-4 inhes were forecast from the western Florida Panhandle to the southern Louisiana coast, with isolated areas expected to receive higher amounts that could trigger flash flooding, particularly in urban areas.

Authorities in Mississippi, Louisiana and Florida opened sandbag distribution sites to help residents prepare for flooding.

Double red flags were raised along parts of the Gulf Coast, closing beaches to swimmers because of dangerous surf and rip currents.

Near Pensacola, Florida, beaches were largely deserted apart from tourists photographing the rough seas. “For locals, this is just another storm,” Candice Henderson, manager of the beachside restaurant Crab Trap on Pensacola’s Perdido Key, said. “When you’re on vacation and it’s raining, you either shop or you go out to eat.”

The National Hurricane Center said Bertha is expected to weaken as it moves inland towards Texas later this week. Bertha is the second named storm of the 2026 Atlantic hurricane season.

Earlier this year, Tropical Storm Arthur brought heavy rain to the south-eastern United States. Forecasters said Bertha could bring more heavy rainfall to parts of coastal Mississippi that are still recovering from flooding caused by Arthur, which damaged and destroyed homes

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