Tropical Storm Cristobal weakens to depression, but heavy rain, winds could roar from Gulf Coast to Wisconsin

NEW ORLEANS — Once-mighty Tropical Storm Cristobal weakened to a tropical depression Monday, but winds, rain, flooding and even tornadoes remained a threat from the Gulf Coast to Wisconsin.

About 8,400 customers in Louisiana and Mississippi remained without power Monday night, according to poweroutage.us.

“It’s very efficient, very tropical rainfall,” National Hurricane Center Director Ken Graham said in a Facebook video. “It rains a whole bunch real quick.”

Tropical-storm-force wind gusts were forecast Monday in parts of southeastern Louisiana to the western Florida Panhandle. Blustery winds were expected to sweep northward Wednesday over portions of the Midwest and the western Great Lakes, the weather service said.

The storm was expected to produce rainfall accumulations of 5 to 10 inches across portions of the Gulf Coast into the Lower Mississippi Valley; isolated amounts of 15 inches was possible. Heavy rains and the potential for flooding were forecast as far north as Wisconsin, the weather service said.

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The storm was centered 40 miles north of Baton Rouge, Louisiana, on Monday, driving sustained winds of 35 mph. State offices in 22 parishes were ordered closed, and President Donald Trump approved federal assistance for the state's cleanup efforts.

"At the request of @SenJohnKennedy and @SenBillCassidy of the Great State of Louisiana, I will be approving & signing today an EMERGENCY DECLARATION which will help with all aspects of the big storm that is currently hitting your shores," Trump tweeted Sunday. "FEMA is already there. God Bless You!"

Cristobal made landfall in southeast Louisiana on Sunday after days of rain and high water. Rough surf was stirred well before landfall. Two brothers died when they were caught in an undertow in a rip current off the coast of Louisiana.

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Gov. Jon Bel Edwards declared a state of emergency last week as Cristobal advanced toward the coast.

"We are continuing to work with our federal partners on those parts of the request that have not been addressed," Edwards tweeted Sunday night. "Our citizens have weathered many storms, and I’m certain that they will this time as well."

Christopher Cassidy, expedition commander at the International Space Station, posted photos of the storm from space.

"Best of luck to all of the folks in the gulf coast region who are about to deal with the weather from #tropicalstormcristobal," the astronaut wrote on Twitter and Instagram.

In New Orleans, many shops were boarded up. City Hall and the library system were closed Monday.

City officials in Biloxi, Mississippi, said on Facebook that the biggest issue of the storm for first responders was providing assistance to dozens of motorists who tried to drive through flooded roadways.

In Alabama, the bridge linking the mainland to Dauphin Island was closed much of Sunday. Police and state transportation department vehicles led convoys of motorists to and from the island when breaks in the weather permitted.

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And in Florida, a tornado – the second in two days in the state as the storm approached – uprooted trees and downed power lines Sunday afternoon south of Lake City near Interstate 75, the weather service and authorities said. There were no reports of injuries.

The hurricane season that began a week ago is already historically busy – Cristobal is the third named storm. Forecasters at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration predicted last month as many as 19 named storms would form this year, as many as 10 reaching hurricane strength.

Bacon reported from McLean, Virginia. Contributing: Elinor Aspegren, USA TODAY; The Associated Press

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Cristobal storm: News on storm surge and path after making landfall