Bertha deals St. Mary a glancing blow

A ragged Tropical Storm Bertha glided past St. Mary on Wednesday and early Thursday with only light rain and manageable winds here.
But St. Mary was still under a coastal flood warning Thursday. The National Weather Service warned that low-lying property would be inundated. Not long after the warning was posted, St. Mary emergency preparedness officials posted video showing water over a still-passable La. 317.
By publication time Thursday morning, attention turned to a potential second landfall west of the Louisiana-Texas border. Locally, the focus returned to the heat.
Earlier in the week, Bertha’s projected track along the Louisiana coast made it unpredictable even by tropical weather standards.
It was unclear whether Bertha’s center would remain over water and become more organized or weaken as it moved over land.
But the story turned out to be about the wind shear and an infusion of dry air that hampered Bertha’s development, pushing the worst of the rain and wind offshore while the center hugged the coastline.
The National Hurricane Center reported 60 mph sustained winds as Bertha approached Louisiana. By Thursday morning, the winds had weakened to 45 mph.
The storm’s center made landfall about 4 p.m. Wednesday southeast of New Orleans in St. Bernard Parish.
At Harry P. Williams Memorial Airport near Patterson, the strongest winds since landfall were reported 4-9 p.m. Wednesday. Gusts of 22-26 mph, at least 13 mph below tropical storm strength, were recorded. Sustained winds were clocked at 10-17 mph during that period.
Gentle rain began falling in Morgan City about 7 p.m. Wednesday and continued through the night.
The rain totals associated with Bertha were dwarfed by a strong storm that passed through the area Tuesday night, dumping nearly 1.5 inches with gusty winds up to 36 mph.
As Bertha approached, local government agencies went into preparation mode.
Local officials participated in updates from meteorologists via the Internet.
The Morgan City Police Department issued a notice urging residents to take precautions.
St. Mary Parish government and Berwick’s town government announced the availability of sand for sandbags.
“We took precautionary measures and got everything locked down,” said Berwick Mayor Duval Arthur.
The St. Mary Parish Council’s regular fourth-Wednesday meeting and the St. Mary Parish Communications District meeting scheduled for Thursday were canceled.
Bertha’s passing is providing only a brief break from extreme heat.
High temperatures are expected to be approach the mid-90s this weekend and into early next week.
Overnight lows next week are expected to be near 80 degrees,.
to weather.com.