Mindy causes flooding in Southeast as more tropical activity brews
Florida’s Big Bend area was already saturated from rain dumped by Hurricanes Elsa and Ida this season when Tropical Storm Mindy made landfall Wednesday night.
Downgraded to a tropical depression Thursday, Mindy, the 13th named storm of the season, dumped rain along the Georgia and South Carolina seacoasts before moving well out over the Atlantic Ocean.
Some residents in low-lying Dixie County, Fla., had to move out of their homes, which were flooded before Mindy brought more rain.
Mandy Lemmermen, spokesperson for the county’s emergency management office, told WGFL-TV in Gainesville that as the water recedes in some areas, it rises in others.
“Now we’re seeing where people who weren’t flooded a week or two ago are now flooded
as the water moves throughout the county,” she said, adding that the area expected between 2 to 4 inches of rain from Mindy.
As of 5 p.m. Thursday, Mindy was 110 miles east-southeast of Charleston, S.C., moving east-northeast at 23 mph with maximum sustained winds of 35 mph, forecasters said.
No coastal watches or warnings were in effect late Thursday.
Once Mindy moves further into the Atlantic Ocean, forecasters expect it to lose more strength and organization. Mindy is expected to dissipate by Friday night.
The short-lived tropical storm made landfall Wednesday night at St. Vincent Island in the Florida
Panhandle about four hours after it initially formed in the northern Gulf of Mexico, the National Hurricane Center said.
The 2021 hurricane season continues to outpace the norm.
The average date for the 13th-named storm from 1991-2020 was Oct. 24, according to a tweet from Colorado State University hurricane expert Phil Klotzbach.
Forecasters are also monitoring two other areas for potential development.
There’s a storm system that’s forecast to come off Africa’s west coast on Saturday. It could form into a tropical depression by early next week over the far eastern Atlantic.
Also Saturday, a tropical wave is expected to emerge in the northern Caribbean Sea. It’s expected to gradually develop over the warm Caribbean waters and end up moving over mainland Mexico next week.
And, Hurricane Larry skirted Bermuda Thursday on a path toward Newfoundland, Canada, where it’s due to make a landfall Friday.
Dangerous and significant swells generated by Larry are forecast to impact Florida and U.S. East Coast through week’s end, according to the hurricane center.
The next named storm to form would be Nicholas.