Bertha fell into depression Thursday evening 10 miles north-northeast of Houston, although rain was still falling in parts of East Texas. The system’s most widespread flood threat is hundreds of miles to the east.
A plume of tropical moisture associated with Bertha is feeding heavy rain along a cold front extending across the Southeast.
🌀 ⛈️ Get a storm forecast with the CNN Weather app
That moisture will continue to fuel the threat of rain-filled flooding through Friday from North and South Carolina to northern parts of Georgia and Alabama, potentially causing more severe flooding there than in areas closer to Bertha itself. Some areas of North Carolina have already seen a month’s worth of rainfall in just a few days, and more is on the way.
Heavy rain Thursday morning prompted a flash flood warning for southeastern Virginia, eastern North Carolina and eastern Tennessee. Flooding Thursday morning closed a small section of Interstate 40 northwest of Durham, North Carolina, which has since reopened, according to the state Department of Transportation.
Flash flood warnings were also issued in North Carolina, including Greensboro and Winston-Salem, Wednesday night, where severe storms dropped up to 6 inches of rain in 12 hours. There were no reports of flooding from the area, where severe drought and persistent rather than intense rainfall have helped mitigate the threat.
Although Bertha is currently depressed, its remnants could still cause heavy rainfall in East Texas.
The remnants of Bertha could bring 1 to 3 inches of rain, with isolated rainfall totals of 4 inches, to several areas along the mid-Texas Gulf Coast and South Texas through Thursday evening. Isolated flash flooding is possible, but dry conditions should help combat the larger threat.
Bertha became the second named storm in an Atlantic hurricane season that has gotten off to a slow start compared to previous years as El Niño tightens its grip on parts of the basin.
Moisture from Bertha began flowing into a slow-moving front across the Southeast and southern Virginia on Wednesday, setting the stage for an ongoing flood threat.
Storms caused flash flooding north of Knoxville, Tennessee, Wednesday morning after dropping up to 5 inches of rain in just a few hours.
More rain is expected until Friday. The Carolinas need rain to help break the drought there, but too much rain repeated in the same areas over a period of hours or days can quickly trigger dangerous flash floods.
A Level 2 of 4 flood risk exists from parts of the Carolinas west to northern Alabama. Thursday-Friday morning.
Thunderstorms Thursday afternoon could increase rainfall rates to 2 inches per hour, an intensity that could quickly overwhelm drainage systems and flood urban areas. Atlanta, Birmingham, Alabama and Charlotte, North Carolina are among the cities under threat.
The flood threat will continue Friday, with a risk level of 2 of 4 extending from coastal North Carolina through South Carolina, northern Georgia and northeast Alabama.