Cindy heading this way

NEW ORLEANS — A suspected tornado near Birmingham, Alabama, flattened businesses and injured one person Thursday, as the lingering effects of a weakening Tropical Depression Cindy fueled harsh weather across the Southeast.

The walls of a liquor store and an oil-change service in Fairfield, west of Birmingham, collapsed in the apparent twister. Dean Argo, a spokesman for the Alabama Alcoholic Beverage Control Board, said one employee of the liquor store was hurt.

Meteorologist Jason Holmes of the National Weather Service said trees were down and buildings Heavy rains likely here /

were reported damaged along the Interstate 20 corridor on the western outskirts of Birmingham, Alabama’s most populous city. The weather service had issued tornado warnings earlier for the Birmingham and Tuscaloosa areas.

Meanwhile, the Gulf Coast was still suffering from the effects of Cindy, a former tropical storm in the Gulf of Mexico that crawled ashore early Thursday near the Louisiana-Texas state line. Downgraded to a tropical depression, Cindy weakened as it crossed Louisiana toward Arkansas, but broad circulation around the system swept moist Gulf air over the South, fueling severe weather and pushing up coastal tides.

Cindy was blamed for one death: a 10-year-old boy, Nolan McCabe of St. Louis, Missouri, was vacationing with his family on the Alabama coast when he was hit by a log washed in by a large wave. Cindy also caused widespread coastal highway flooding and several shortlived tornadoes.

Authorities warn driving rains could still cause flash floods, and heavy rain was forecast to spread over the Tennessee and Ohio valleys on Thursday, then move Friday and Saturday into the central Appalachians.