Tropical Storm Mindy has just made landfall in the Florida Panhandle hours after it formed off the coast Wednesday. The storm touched down near St. Vincent Island just southwest of Tallahassee.
The National Hurricane Center said the storm brought with it 45 mph winds and it is expected to drop up to 6 inches of rain along its path. The storm is now moving northeast at a speed of 21 mph.
The storm is expected to cross the Florida Panhandle Thursday and then move towards southern Georgia. Mindy is then expected to exit through the Atlantic Ocean by Thursday or Friday.
Mindy is expected to weaken into a tropical depression as it moves toward the Atlantic Ocean. Experts said that because it formed so close to land, the storm had no time to grow into a larger system. Mindy made landfall just hours after it had actually formed into a storm.
Officials have issued tropical storm warnings along the Florida coast, extending from Mexico Beach to Steinhatchee River. Mindy is the 13th storm to be named during this year's Atlantic hurricane season.
Here are the 4 PM CDT, September 8th Key Messages for newly formed Tropical Storm #Mindy. Heavy rainfall & Tropical Storm conditions are expected tonight for portions of the Florida Panhandle where a Tropical Storm Warning is in effect.
Latest: https://t.co/LPquAyTpD1 pic.twitter.com/L6fdsszll0 — National Hurricane Center (@NHC_Atlantic) September 8, 2021
Forecasters expect the storm to bring 2 to 4 inches of rain in some areas. However, some areas could experience as much as 6 inches of rain. Flash flood watches have been implemented in some areas of the Florida Panhandle. Forecasters said the storm could form some tornadoes in some areas.
"This rainfall may produce isolated to scattered flash, urban, and small stream flooding," the NHC said.
Mindy will be making landfall just 300 miles from where Hurrican Ida had made landfall in Port Fourchon, Louisiana. The Category 4 storm hit the Gulf Coast on Aug. 29. Ida had killed an estimated 66 people as it moved through Louisiana and across the northeastern United States.
Hurricane Ida caused record rainfall in the northeast, flooding New York and New Jersey. Hundreds of thousands of people still remain without power along the path of the deadly storm.
