Don Shepherd, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Mobile, Alabama, told the Pensacola News Journal a tornado was confirmed overnight near Whiting Naval Air Station in Milton as Tropical Storm Gordon hit the area.
The tornado was spotted about 20 miles (32 kilometers) northwest of the Pensacola mobile home park where a child was killed by a falling tree limb. Shepherd did not have damage reports from the small twister.
Gordon weakened to a tropical depression Wednesday morning and is expected to continue weakening as it moves inland.
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8:05 a.m.
Officials in Florida’s Escambia County haven’t yet released the identity of a child killed when a large oak tree limb fell onto a mobile home near Pensacola as Tropical Storm Gordon skirted the Florida Panhandle.
In an email sent Wednesday morning, officials said the county received 10 calls overnight for downed trees in roadways, along with multiple reports of regarding arcing power lines.
The county’s emergency operations center noted peak wind gusts of 61 mph (98 kph).
Officials are warning beachgoers of dangerous rip currents in the Gulf of Mexico.
Beaches in the area are flying red flags, which means it is illegal to enter the Gulf.
Crews are also assessing roadways and bridges following a night of wind and rain.
Gordon has weakened to a tropical depression and is expected to continue weakening as it moves inland.
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7:25 a.m.
Utility firms say thousands of customers remain without power as bands of rain from Gordon continued to soak some areas.
Alabama Power said that by 7 a.m. CDT, about 21,000 customers were without power, mostly in the Mobile metro area.
The majority of the outages across the region were in Alabama.
Alabama Power said in an update on the power outages that its crews were working in areas where it was safe for them to do so.
Mississippi Power said on its website that only about 275 customers remained without power at 7:15 a.m. CDT.
At the height of the storm, more than 27,000 customers across the region were without electricity, mostly in coastal Alabama, southeast Mississippi and the western tip of the Florida Panhandle around Pensacola.
Gordon has weakened to a tropical depression and is expected to continue weakening as it moves inland.
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7:25 a.m.
The mayor of Dauphin Island — a barrier island off the Alabama coast — says about half of the community remained without power as dawn broke Wednesday.
Mayor Jeff Collier says the causeway that connects the island to the mainland remained open all night as Tropical Storm Gordon swirled overhead, despite some driftwood and other debris the ocean hurled onto the roadway.
In a telephone interview from his house, which had no power around dawn Wednesday, the mayor said town officials were preparing to visit the island’s west end.
That’s where most of the power outages were. He said he’s heard no reports of any significant emergencies or any widespread damage on the island.
Collier said “it sounds like, for the most part, we did OK.”
Gordon has weakened to a tropical depression and is expected to continue weakening as it moves inland.
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In its latest update before dawn Wednesday, the National Hurricane Center says the storm is expected to leave total rain amounts of 4-8 inches (10-20 centimeters) in the Florida panhandle and parts of Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, Arkansas, Missouri, Iowa and Illinois.
The Hurricane Center says that isolated amounts of 12 inches (30 centimeters) will be possible in parts of the region through early Saturday.
Though Gordon is expected to weaken to a tropical depression sometime Wednesday morning, forecasters say tornadoes will still be possible Wednesday and Wednesday night in Mississippi and western Alabama.
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