Tropical Storm Gordon Weakening But Takes Deadly Turn
PENSACOLA, Fla. (CBSNewYork/CBS News) - Tropical Storm Gordon made landfall near the Alabama-Mississippi border late Tuesday night after forming near the Florida Keys on Monday.
A child in Pensacola, Florida, was killed when a tree fell onto a trailer, reports CBS2's Chris Wragge.
With now 40 mile per hour winds the storm has weakened considerably, but it could drop as much as 8-inches of rain in parts of the Gulf Coast.
People who plan on traveling to the area in the next few days should check flight plans as some airlines have warned of major delays and flight cancellations.
The National Hurricane Center said Gordan, which formed Monday morning near the Florida Keys, was packing maximum sustained winds of 70 mph when it hit land. It never achieved hurricane status.
Isolated tornadoes were reported.
Authorities warned of possible flash floods. Pensacola International Airport reported more than 4 inches of rain Tuesday night, the heaviest total so far along the Gulf Coast.
The storm was forecast to quickly weaken as it moves inland across Mississippi, Louisiana and into Arkansas through Thursday.
Governors of Alabama, Mississippi and Louisiana declared states of emergency to better mobilize state resources and National Guard troops for the storm. Mississippi shut down a dozen Gulf Coast casinos. Workers on at least 54 oil and gas production platforms were evacuated.
Escambia County, Florida, emergency officials confirmed a child was killed Tuesday night when a large oak tree fell on the back of a mobile home in West Pensacola. The child's name and age weren't released.
No one else inside was reported injured.
More than 27,000 customers are without power Tuesday night as Tropical Storm Gordon began pushing ashore. Those outages are mostly in coastal Alabama and include the western tip of the Florida Panhandle around Pensacola, with a few hundred in southeastern Mississippi.
The number of outages has been rising rapidly after dark Tuesday night as Tropical Storm Gordon's wind and rain began to take a toll on the Gulf Coast's power grid.
