David Eversole, a forecaster with the National Weather Service in Mobile, said Arthur, which was upgraded to a tropical storm on Wednesday, is expected to make landfall in western Louisiana Thursday morning before its remnants track across Northwest Florida. The system will not make a direct impact to the area, but Eversole said residents should not underestimate what it will bring.
“It’s going to move across the general area and bring a whole slug of deep tropical moisture,” Eversole said, adding that rain chances remain high until Saturday as a weak front will converge with whatever is left of Arthur. “We just have a lot of weather features that are coming together to make it a really soggy few days.”
Forecasters say the heaviest rainfall is expected to arrive Thursday and continue on and off until Friday, with total accumulations of 4 to 7 inches, with isolated areas seeing as much as 10 inches. He said remnants of Arthur could also bring isolated severe weather Thursday into Friday.
His most urgent advice was to not drive through flooded roads.
“That water, as smooth as it may look, could be hiding a washed-out road,” he said. “Don’t drive across it.”
Eversole also noted that rip currents are the area’s most dangerous threat, with a high-risk marker in effect through Saturday driven by a strong onshore flow piling water against beaches.
“Rip currents are our biggest killer—more than anything,” he said. “Tornadoes, flooding, hurricanes. Rip currents are the biggest killer.”
For boaters, a small craft advisory is in effect for most area waters from Wednesday evening through Thursday night, with surf heights expected to reach 5 to 7 feet and minor coastal flooding could be seen at typical trouble spots by Thursday.
Sand will be available on a first-come, first-serve basis and can be picked up at four locations:
- Corner of Leisure Street and Citrus Drive in Navarre.
- Tiger Point Park at 1370 Tiger Park Lane.
- Pace Fire Rescue at 4773 Pace Patriot Road.
- Corner of Pine Forest Road and Carroll Road in Milton.
Residents must bring their own sand bags and shovels.
