ESCAMBIA COUNTY, FL — A child was killed after a tree fell on a house in the Florida panhandle Tuesday night as tropical storm Gordon made its way towards the Gulf coast, according to the Escambia County Sheriff’s Office.
The sheriff’s office said that deputies responded just before 9 p.m. to the 4000 block of West Bobe Street for a report of a tree that had fallen on top of a mobile home. A child was found dead in the home, the sheriff’s office said. No other injuries were reported.
Gordon never reached hurricane speeds and has since been downgraded to a tropical depression but the National Hurricane Center said in a morning advisory that the threat of heavy rains and flooding will continue for several days. Gordon will move over the lower Mississippi Valley Wednesday night before turning towards the north and north-northwest on Friday.
Gordon is currently packing maximum wind speeds of 30 miles per hour with some higher gusts but it is expected to weaken as it moves further inland.
Heavy rainfall is expected in the western Florida panhandle, southwest Alabama, central Mississippi, Arkansas, Missouri, southern Iowa and Illinois, according to the NHC. Along with storm surges and heavy winds, a tornado or two is possible through the evening over Mississippi and western Alabama, the NHC forecasts.
As Gordon made landfall, power was knocked out to thousands in Mississippi and Alabama. As of Wednesday morning, Mississippi emergency management officials said crews were working to restore power to over 10,500 customers. In Alabama, nearly 14,000 customers remained without power, according to the latest update from Alabama Power. Overall, more than 48,000 customers lost power at some point throughout the storm. Alabama emergency management officials said there were reports that up to eight inches of rain fell Tuesday and heavy bands will continue for the southern and western portions of the state.
A flash flood watch was in effect for some Alabama counties and officials also warned residents to be careful of rapidly developing tornadoes and dangerous rip currents.
Photo: A flooded parking lot sits near a shutdown portion of US Highway 98 from Tropical Storm Gordon on Wednesday, Sept. 5, 2018, in Spanish Fort, Ala. Tropical Storm Gordon never became a hurricane but it was deadly all the same, as it made landfall late Tuesday just west of the Alabama-Mississippi border. Photo by Dan Anderson/Associated Press
Click Here: NRL Telstra Premiership