{"id":13599,"date":"2026-07-22T13:32:21","date_gmt":"2026-07-22T08:32:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/?p=13599"},"modified":"2026-07-22T13:32:21","modified_gmt":"2026-07-22T08:32:21","slug":"beaches-closed-and-sandbags-filled-as-tropical-storm-bertha-approaches-the-gulf-coast-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/?p=13599","title":{"rendered":"Beaches closed and sandbags filled as Tropical Storm Bertha approaches the Gulf Coast"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><script>\r\n  atOptions = {\r\n    'key' : '644b717812d811d6a1c1fc5b6ccd6fa6',\r\n    'format' : 'iframe',\r\n    'height' : 90,\r\n    'width' : 728,\r\n    'params' : {}\r\n  };\r\n<\/script>\r\n<script src=\"https:\/\/www.highperformanceformat.com\/644b717812d811d6a1c1fc5b6ccd6fa6\/invoke.js\"><\/script>\r\n<br \/>\n<br \/><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content%2Fuploads%2Fsites%2F2%2F2026%2F07%2F135159900.jpg?quality%3D90%26strip%3Dall\" \/><\/p>\n<div>\n<p>Communities on the US Gulf Coast distributed sandbags and closed beaches as <a href=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/2026\/07\/21\/us-news\/tropical-storm-bertha-expected-to-bring-rain-and-flooding-to-gulf-coast\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Tropical Storm\u00a0Bertha\u00a0threatened to bring flooding and strong winds<\/a> Wednesday from the Florida Panhandle to Louisiana.<\/p>\n<p>Bertha was forecast to <a href=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/2026\/07\/20\/us-news\/depression-expected-to-become-tropical-storm-bertha-as-rain-targets-the-southeast\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">make landfall Wednesday night<\/a> in the coastal and lightly populated part of Louisiana southeast of New Orleans, with wind as the biggest threat, according to Michael Buchanan, a National Weather Service meteorologist in Louisiana.<\/p>\n<p>Early Wednesday, the storm was centered about 145 miles west-southwest of Panama City, Florida, and 75 miles east of the mouth of the Mississippi River. It was moving west at 6 mph with maximum sustained winds of 50 mph, the Miami-based National Hurricane Center said.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"nyp-slideshow-modal-image wp-block-image aligncenter size-large\"><figcaption>A satellite image from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) shows Tropical Storm Bertha. <span class=\"credit\">NOAA<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>A <a href=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/2026\/07\/20\/us-news\/tropical-storm-bertha-drifts-toward-land-as-hurricane-fausto-forms-in-the-eastern-pacific\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">tropical storm warning was in effect from the line between Bay and Gulf counties in Florida<\/a> west to Morgan City, Louisiana, as well as for metropolitan New Orleans and Lake Pontchartrain, the hurricane center said.<\/p>\n<p>Storm surges up to 4 feet were possible in Louisiana from the Mississippi River mouth to the Alabama-Mississippi state line, with smaller surges in parts of Florida and Alabama, forecasters said.<\/p>\n<aside class=\"single__inline-module aligncenter wp-block-nypost-editor-primary-tag\">\n<\/aside>\n<p>Rain between 2 to 4 inches could fall from western Florida to the southern Louisiana coastline, with higher amounts in scattered areas that could cause flash flooding in urban areas.<\/p>\n<p>Bertha was expected to weaken as it pushes into Texas, forecasters said.<\/p>\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Sandbag distribution sites set up<\/h4>\n<figure class=\"nyp-slideshow-modal-image wp-block-image aligncenter size-large\"><figcaption>Christian Mosley-Richardson, left, helps Johnisha West fill sandbags ahead of Tropical Storm Bertha at Morris FX Jeff Sr. Park in Algiers, New Orleans, Monday, July 20, 2026.  <span class=\"credit\">David Grunfeld\/The Times-Picayune\/The New Orleans Advocate via AP<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Authorities in Mississippi, Louisiana and Florida opened sites to provide sandbags to residents while red flag warnings were posted along some beaches advising swimmers about the dangers of rip tides. Up and down the coast, double red flags signaled that Gulf waters were closed for swimming.<\/p>\n<p>Beaches near Pensacola, Florida, were mostly deserted except for tourists taking photos of the pounding surf.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cFor locals, this is just another storm,\u201d said Candice Henderson, manager of the Crab Trap, a beachside restaurant that was packed Tuesday on Pensacola\u2019s Perdido Key. \u201cWhen you\u2019re on vacation and it\u2019s raining, you either shop or you go out to eat.\u201d<\/p>\n<figure class=\"nyp-slideshow-modal-image wp-block-image aligncenter size-large\"><figcaption>Early Wednesday, the storm was centered about 145 miles west-southwest of Panama City, Florida, and 75 miles east of the mouth of the Mississippi River.  <span class=\"credit\">USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Bertha is the second tropical storm of Atlantic season<\/h4>\n<p>Bertha is the second\u00a0tropical storm of the Atlantic hurricane season. Tropical Storm Arthur\u00a0in June\u00a0brought heavy rainfall to the southeastern US<\/p>\n<p>Bertha could dump heavy rain on coastal areas of Mississippi that are still recovering from flooding brought by Arthur that destroyed and damaged homes.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"nyp-slideshow-modal-image wp-block-image aligncenter size-large\"><figcaption>Lifeguard tower at Rick Seltzer Park in Panama City Beach, Florida, during Tropical Storm Bertha July 21, 2026.  <span class=\"credit\">USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>\u201cBecause of that, people are definitely paying attention, or at least you would hope so,\u201d said Jeff Clark, a spokesperson for Mississippi\u2019s Harrison County, where six sites were open for sandbag distribution.<\/p>\n<p>There had not been a need by Tuesday to open shelters or order evacuations, Clark said.<\/p>\n<p>The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration expects a below-average Atlantic hurricane season this year, although that doesn\u2019t eliminate the chances of a catastrophic storm.<\/p>\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Hurricane Fausto in the Pacific is far from land<\/h4>\n<p>In the eastern Pacific Ocean, Hurricane Fausto churned far from land Tuesday. The\u00a0hurricane\u00a0was about 805 miles west-southwest of the southern tip of Baja California moving west-northwest at 9 mph with maximum sustained winds of 80 mph.<\/p>\n<p>It was forecast to gradually strengthen and the hurricane center warned that ocean swells generated by Fausto could cause life-threatening surf and rip tide conditions on the Baja California coast.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<script async=\"async\" data-cfasync=\"false\" src=\"https:\/\/pl30214220.effectivecpmnetwork.com\/9ab3d4df8a7e1a6171e16ddbf732cc19\/invoke.js\"><\/script>\r\n<div id=\"container-9ab3d4df8a7e1a6171e16ddbf732cc19\"><\/div>\r\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Communities on the US Gulf Coast distributed sandbags and closed beaches as Tropical Storm\u00a0Bertha\u00a0threatened to bring flooding and strong winds Wednesday from the Florida Panhandle to Louisiana. Bertha was forecast to make landfall Wednesday night in the coastal and lightly populated part of Louisiana southeast of New Orleans, with wind as the biggest threat, according&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":13600,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2026\/07\/135159900.jpg?quality=75&strip=all&w=1200","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-13599","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news-hub"],"brizy_media":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13599","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=13599"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13599\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/13600"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=13599"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=13599"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=13599"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}