St. Bernard Parish took Bertha's landfall Wednesday afternoon, and the storm is now moving through southern Louisiana with its strongest thunderstorms displaced south and west of the center.
Tropical storm warnings stretch from the Alabama-Florida border to Cameron, Louisiana, while watches extend to Sargent, Texas, as Bertha carries gusty winds, heavy rain bands and coastal flooding west along the Gulf Coast.
41 mph gusts hit Dauphin Island, Alabama, and gauges from Pensacola to southeast Louisiana recorded 2 to 3 feet of coastal inundation; up to 3 feet remains possible through Thursday.
Texas faces the main forecast uncertainty: the National Hurricane Center says a new circulation center could reform south of Bertha's current center, raising tropical-storm risk before the system reaches coastal Texas late Thursday.
Bertha, the Atlantic season's second named storm, is also fighting wind shear and dry air, which should weaken it further and could cause it to dissipate by early Friday.