Heavy rain, winds, tornado warnings as Cindy heads inland

NEW ORLEANS -- High tides in the wake of a weakening Tropical Depression Cindy prompted a voluntary evacuation Thursday in a coastal Louisiana town, and the storm's effects were being felt throughout the Southeast, with intermittent bands of heavy rain, blasts of high wind and periodic warnings of possible tornadoes in multiple states.

In Alabama, where Gov. Kay Ivey urged residents to stay alert for dangerous weather, two tornado warnings were issued in the Birmingham and Tuscaloosa areas.

Social media showed photographs of what appeared to be a funnel cloud near Birmingham. Earlier, authorities had issued warnings of possible tornadoes in Louisiana and Mississippi.

In the low-lying Louisiana town of Lafitte, south of New Orleans, Mayor Tim Kerner urged residents in and around the town to seek higher ground because of rising water.

"The tide's rolling in. It's getting to a dangerous level," Kerner said. Streets and yards in the town were covered, and Kerner worried homes, even those in parts of town protected by levees, might be flooded.

"I'm hoping not," he added.

Cindy moved ashore as a tropical storm near the Louisiana-Texas line early Thursday and continued to pull Gulf moisture inland as it moved north toward Arkansas while weakening to a depression by mid-morning.

"Certainly it's not been as bad as we feared. That's the good news," Louisiana Gov. John Bel Edwards said in Baton Rouge. "The bad news is it's not over yet."

As a slow-moving tropical storm that formed Tuesday in the Gulf, Cindy was blamed for one death: Authorities said a 10-year-old Missouri boy vacationing with relatives on the Alabama coast was struck by a log washed in by a large wave. Cindy also caused widespread highway and street flooding and several short-lived tornadoes, but no other deaths or serious injuries had been reported as of midday Thursday.

In Louisiana, Edwards said two fishermen who were reported missing in coastal St. Mary Parish had been located and rescued Thursday morning.

Off Texas, the U.S. Coast Guard helped the four-member crew of a shrimp trawler limp back to shore at Freeport after the crew radioed in distress early Wednesday. A helicopter crew lowered a spare pump to the trawler, allowing the crew to stay afloat while a cutter escorted the vessel to safety.

Authorities continued to warn driving rains being pulled out of the Gulf still could cause dangerous flash floods.

"That continues to be the threat," said Ken Graham of the National Weather Service Office near New Orleans. "Not only around the center of Cindy. The impact of rain can be hundreds of miles away."