Bertha fades, but its rain plume fuels major East Coast flood threat

Tropical Storm Bertha is weakening but a broad plume of tropical moisture linked to the system will fuel heavy rain and a multi-day flood threat from the Mid-Atlantic to the Southeast through Thursday and into Friday. The storm’s center is expected to move along the Louisiana and upper Texas coasts before dissipating in Texas, while rain totals in the region reach 2–4 inches (locally 6 inches) along the Texas Gulf Coast; further east, rainfall could be heavy enough to cause flash and urban flooding, with some areas facing a potential month’s worth of rain in a few days. Forecasters have placed a Level 3 of 4 flood risk on parts of the Virginia–North Carolina border Thursday into Friday, and Level 2 of 4 from coastal North Carolina through South Carolina and into northern Georgia and northeast Alabama on Friday, with upgrades possible as forecasts firm up. This flood threat compounds ongoing rainfall concerns from a separate West Virginia flooding event earlier in the week.