Tropical weather lashes Gulf Coast with brisk winds, rain

NEW ORLEANS (AP) — High winds and heavy rains buffeted coastal Louisiana and Mississippi on Friday as a disorganized and unpredictable tropical weather system churned through the Gulf of Mexico, forcing cancellation of Juneteenth celebrations in Mississippi and Alabama and threatening Father's Day tourism.

The system, moving north toward Louisiana through the Gulf of Mexico carried tropical storm-force sustained winds of 45 mph (72 kph) but forecasters said it couldn't be classified as a tropical storm because it lacked a single, well-defined center.

“This one is just a sloppy mess. There’s multiple circulations within this broad area of circulation,” said Benjamin Schott, meteorologist in charge at the National Weather Service office in Slidell, Louisiana. Forecasters said the storm was likely to dump anywhere from 5 inches (13 centimeters) to 10 inches (25 centimeters) of rain along parts of the Gulf Coast — even 15 inches (38 centimeters) in isolated areas.

In Louisiana, the threat came a month after spring storms and flooding that were blamed for five deaths, and as parts of the state continued a slow recovery from a brutal 2020 hurricane season. That included Tropical Storm Cristobal that opened the season last June, hurricanes Laura and Delta that devastated southwest Louisiana, and Hurricane Zeta that downed trees and knocked out power for days in New Orleans in October.

The latest storm was expected to move inland early Saturday, imperiling Father’s Day weekend commerce in tourism areas already suffering economic losses caused by the coronavirus pandemic.

“Of course, with weather like this, you know you can’t run, but weekends, holidays, that’s when tourists are coming down here,” said Louisiana swamp tour boat captain Darrin Coulon. He canceled tours Friday...