{"id":1527645,"date":"2026-07-24T03:05:58","date_gmt":"2026-07-24T08:05:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ktbb.com\/post\/?p=1527645"},"modified":"2026-07-24T03:05:58","modified_gmt":"2026-07-24T08:05:58","slug":"tropical-storm-bertha-weakens-after-bringing-strong-winds-and-heavy-surf-to-louisiana-and-texas","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ktbb.com\/post\/?p=1527645","title":{"rendered":"Tropical Storm Bertha weakens after bringing strong winds and heavy surf to Louisiana and Texas"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"
SpaceX’s mega rocket Starship is prepared for a test flight from Starbase, Texas, Thursday, July 23, 2026. (AP Photo\/Eric Gay)<\/figcaption><\/figure>Tropical Storm Bertha brought heavy surf and some flooding to southern Louisiana and Texas as it came ashore on the Gulf Coast for a second time Thursday, hours before weakening to a tropical depression.<\/p>\n

The National Hurricane Center said wind gusts of tropical storm force were still possible along the upper Texas coast Thursday evening, and water levels in the area may remain high from storm surge. By late evening, the hurricane center declared Bertha had dissipated.<\/p>\n

Its remnants are still expected to produce 1 to 3 inches (2.5 to 7.6 centimeters) of rainfall, with isolated totals up to 4 inches (10.1 centimeters) that could trigger flash flooding in coastal and south Texas, the hurricane center said.<\/p>\n

Bertha first grazed southern Louisiana on Wednesday in a slow crawl westward. The storm weakened as it made its second landfall about 75 miles (115 kilometers) northeast of Galveston, Texas, on Thursday afternoon, the National Hurricane Center said. It remained a tropical storm for a few hours before being downgraded to a depression, marked by maximum sustained winds of 38 mph (61 kph) or less.<\/p>\n

Thick clouds associated with Bertha prompted SpaceX to call off Thursday evening\u2019s planned Starship launch from the southern tip of Texas. The space-skimming test flight was rescheduled for Friday, when the forecast called for clear skies.<\/p>\n

No deaths or significant damage have been reported since Bertha formed Monday in the Gulf of Mexico south of the Florida Panhandle. The storm caused some coastal flooding as its center first struck land Wednesday in Louisiana southwest of New Orleans, but its heaviest rains stayed over the Gulf waters.<\/p>\n

That rainfall south of the storm’s center began moving inland along Texas’ southeastern coast Thursday afternoon. Tropical storm force winds on Thursday extended as far as 140 miles (225 kilometers) from the storm\u2019s center, the hurricane center said.<\/p>\n

A tropical storm warning was discontinued by evening from Sargent, Texas, to the Vermilion and Cameron Parish line in Louisiana.<\/p>\n

Galveston businesses stay open as officials predict a ‘windy day\u2019<\/strong><\/p>\n

In Galveston, an island city of 53,000 people southeast of Houston, local officials urged residents to brace for a \u201cwindy day\u201d and secure any outdoor objects that might become airborne projectiles.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhile no significant impacts are forecast, some gusty storms may blow through the island throughout the day,\u201d Galveston\u2019s Office of Emergency Management said in a Facebook post Thursday.<\/p>\n

The Galveston Historic Seaport canceled its sightseeing boat tours Thursday afternoon as a precaution, but was otherwise operating normally, said employee Jesi Hahn.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ll definitely be open,\u201d Hahn said. \u201cWe usually close for big hurricanes.\u201d<\/p>\n

At the nearby Harbor House Hotel and Marina, employee Justin Timber said he wasn\u2019t aware of any canceled reservations.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt seems like a normal day,\u201d he said. \u201cRestaurants are clicking. Everything\u2019s great.\u201d<\/p>\n

In Florida, storm damages a boardwalk and topples a Waffle House sign<\/strong><\/p>\n

Electrical outages across the Gulf Coast were minimal, according to the website poweroutage.us. Still, Bertha\u2019s passage wasn\u2019t harmless.<\/p>\n

In Pensacola, Florida, officials closed an area around a storm-damaged beach boardwalk, Mayor D.C. Reeves said Thursday on Facebook. He posted a photo showing part of the boardwalk\u2019s support structure ripped away and a fence damaged nearby.<\/p>\n

Strong gales earlier in the week knocked over a Waffle House sign onto a car in Panama City Beach, Florida. Heavy surf and the threat of rip tides had prompted warnings at Gulf Coast beaches for swimmers to stay out of the water.<\/p>\n

Bertha is the second tropical storm of the Atlantic hurricane season. Tropical Storm Arthur in June brought heavy rainfall to the southeastern U.S.<\/p>\n

In the eastern Pacific Ocean, Hurricane Fausto churned far from land Thursday. The hurricane was more than 1,000 miles (1,600 kilometers) west-southwest of the southern tip of Baja California with maximum sustained winds of 80 mph (130 kph).<\/p>\n

The hurricane center said swells generated by Fausto could cause life-threatening surf and rip tides in parts of southern California.<\/p>\n

___<\/p>\n

Bynum reported from Savannah, Georgia, and Thanawala reported from Atlanta. AP journalist Marcia Dunn in Cape Canaveral, Florida, contributed.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Tropical Storm Bertha brought heavy surf and some flooding to southern Louisiana and Texas as it came ashore on the Gulf Coast for a second time Thursday, hours before weakening to a tropical depression.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":1527646,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1502,1447],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1527645","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-abc-heads","category-abc-national-news"],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":true,"date":"2026-07-26 03:04:39","action":"change-status","newStatus":"trash","terms":[0],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ktbb.com\/post\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1527645","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ktbb.com\/post\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ktbb.com\/post\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ktbb.com\/post\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ktbb.com\/post\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1527645"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/ktbb.com\/post\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1527645\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1527647,"href":"https:\/\/ktbb.com\/post\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1527645\/revisions\/1527647"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ktbb.com\/post\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/1527646"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ktbb.com\/post\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1527645"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ktbb.com\/post\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1527645"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ktbb.com\/post\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1527645"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}