Slow-moving storm in Gulf could be next billion-dollar disaster

A slow-moving tropical storm brewing in the Gulf of Mexico could potentially become the next billion-dollar disaster for the United States, warns AccuWeather.com.
Alex Sosnowski, Accuweather’s expert senior meteorologist, posted an article on the site describing the potential bruiser of a storm that may produce “epic flooding” along the Gulf Coast.
“The consensus among nearly 100 meteorologists at AccuWeather is that this will be an extensive, slow-moving system, capable of affecting the same areas for days with downpours, stormy seas and rough surf conditions,” Sosnowski wrote.
Locations from the western Florida panhandle to the upper Texas coast are at risk at this early stage, AccuWeather says. Louisiana is located in the middle of the area of concern for flooding rainfall.
The U.S. National Hurricane Centre says the tropical storm, currently a tropical depression, is expected to produce total rain accumulations of 10-15 inches over southern Louisiana, Southern Mississippi and southern Alabama through Sept. 4.
Possible isolated maximum amounts of rainfall could reach up to 20 inches. “These rains are expected to cause extensive flooding,” the centre reports.
Isolated tornadoes are possible over portions of Southern Louisiana on Sept. 2.
Should the storm system sit or crawl over the Gulf as expected, the rainfall would put a great deal of pressure on levees, AccuWeather observes.
“Considering potential for damage, impact on the petroleum industry and commerce in the Gulf Coast region, the system could be the next billion-dollar disaster in a mountainous year of costly storms for the U.S.,” the article says.
Closer to Canada, the U.S. National Hurricane Center has its eye on a storm system located about 450 miles south of Halifax, Nova Scotia.
“This system is producing winds of tropical storm force,” the center says. “Only a slight increase in organization could result in the formation of a tropical storm. This system has a high chance, 60%, of becoming a tropical cyclone during the next 48 hours as it moves to the northeast at 10 15 mph.”