Tropical Storm Bertha moves into Louisiana, heads for Texas. See forecast map and its path.

(CBS) — Tropical Storm Bertha was turning toward Texas early Thursday after making landfall in St. Bernard Parish, Louisiana, the day before and was bringing rain to a large swath of the northern Gulf Coast.

Bertha was moving west at 12 mph, the National Hurricane Center said.

“Little change in strength is expected today, and Bertha is forecast to maintain tropical storm intensity up until it reaches the upper Texas coast later today. Bertha is expected to dissipate inland over Texas by tonight or Friday,” the Miami-based center said.

Map shows projected path

Bertha, the second named storm of the Atlantic hurricane season, had maximum sustained winds of 45 mph after a gradual decrease since Tuesday night.

“A generally westward motion is expected through Friday. On the forecast track, the center of Bertha will move near or along the Louisiana and upper Texas coasts through this afternoon, and then move farther inland into Texas this evening and tonight,” the center noted.

Louisiana Gov. Jeff Landry urged residents not to be complacent about the potential flooding threat. “It doesn’t take a major hurricane to do major damage to communities in Louisiana,” Landry said at a news conference Wednesday.

Louisiana state climatologist Jay Grymes said he expected some pockets of flooding, but added, “With luck, this will be an in-and-out kind of situation.”

Warnings in effect

A tropical storm warning was posted for the Gulf Coast from the Plaquemines/St. Bernard Parish line in Louisiana to Sargent, Texas early Thursday. “Tropical storm conditions will continue spreading across portions of the northern and northwestern Gulf Coast within the warning area through today,” the center said.

“Bertha is expected to produce total rainfall amounts of 2 to 4 inches with isolated totals to 6 inches through tonight along
Texas Gulf Coast and South Texas,” the hurricane center pointed out while cautioning that “this rainfall may produce isolated flash flooding, especially in urban areas.”

The system could also produce storm surge, raising waters up to 3 feet in some locations along the coast.

Bertha comes weeks after the 2026 hurricane season’s first named storm, Tropical Storm Arthur, which made landfall in June along the Gulf Coast of Texas.