As the remnants of Hurricane Ida move farther inland in the coming days, the storm system is expected to lose strength, but continue to pose a danger to many parts of the Southeast, the National Hurricane Center said.
Ida, which was downgraded to a tropical storm early Monday morning, will likely bring heavy rainfall, and possibly severe flooding, to Louisiana, the southern parts of Mississippi and coastal communities in Alabama through the day. The rainfall totals could reach as much as 24 inches in some parts of southeast Louisiana.
Coastal Alabama and the western parts of Florida could see five to 10 inches of rain through Tuesday morning, and in central Mississippi, up to a foot of rain.
Tornadoes are also possible on Monday in southeast Louisiana, Southern Mississippi, southwest Alabama and the western Florida Panhandle.
On Monday morning, the system was about 65 miles south southwest of Jackson, Miss., moving toward the north at 8 miles per hour with maximum sustained winds of 45 m.p.h. Tropical storm-force winds extended outward up to 150 miles of the center.
The storm is expected to turn northeast on Monday, tracking across the Middle Tennessee Valley, including Humphreys County, where 20 people were killed this month as flash floods tore through communities there. The area could see up to six inches of rain on Tuesday and Wednesday, the Hurricane Center said.
The National Weather Service in Nashville issued a flood watch for most of Middle Tennessee starting on Monday night.
By Wednesday, the storm will move through the Upper Ohio Valley, dropping as much as six inches of rain.
The rainfall totals for all of these areas could result in flash flooding, the Hurricane Center said.
The system is expected to weaken during the next day or so and is expected to become a tropical depression by Monday afternoon.