Tropical Storm Bertha moves off Louisiana, heads for Texas. See forecast map and its path.
Tropical Storm Bertha was turning toward Texas early Thursday after making landfall over Louisiana on Wednesday, then heading offshore again. It continued to bring rain to a large swath of the northern Gulf Coast.
Bertha was moving westward off the Louisiana coast and “is expected to make landfall along the northwestern Gulf Coast today,” the National Hurricane Center said, adding that the storm was traveling at 13 mph.
“Bertha is forecast to maintain tropical storm intensity up until it reaches the upper Texas coast later today,” then “is expected to dissipate inland over Texas by tonight or Friday,” the Miami-based center said.
Map shows projected path
Bertha, the second named storm of the Atlantic hurricane season, had maximum sustained winds of 45 mph after a gradual decrease since Tuesday night.
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“On the forecast track, the center of Bertha will move near or along the Louisiana and upper Texas coasts through this afternoon, and then move farther inland into Texas this evening and tonight,” the center said.
Louisiana state climatologist Jay Grymes said Wednesday he expected some pockets of flooding, but added, “With luck, this will be an in-and-out kind of situation.” It appears to have been.
Warnings in effect
A tropical storm warning is posted for the Gulf Coast from the Terrebonne/Lafourche Parish line in Louisiana to Sargent, Texas.
“Bertha is expected to produce total rainfall amounts of 2 to 4 inches with isolated totals to 6 inches through tonight along the Texas Gulf Coast and South Texas. This rainfall may produce isolated flash flooding, especially in urban areas,” the center cautioned.
The system could also produce storm surge, raising waters up to 3 feet in some locations along the coast.
Bertha comes weeks after the 2026 hurricane season’s first named storm, Tropical Storm Arthur, which made landfall in June along the Gulf Coast of Texas.
