On this date in 2001, five people drowned and dozens had to be rescued from rough Gulf of Mexico waters during a two day period of rip currents along the Northwest Florida coast. The rip currents were caused by strong onshore winds that resulted from the combined effects of strong high pressure and the remnants of Tropical Storm Allison. The tropical storm had moved ashore in Texas the day before.
Strong swells from Allison exacerbated the rip tide conditions all along the Gulf Coast. Conditions became so bad that storm warning sirens were actually sounded at Pensacola Beach Victims included a 46 year old Tennessee man who went into the water to rescue his daughters and a 48 year old man who was swimming with his son.
Meanwhile, the outer rain bands from Tropical Storm Allison were dumping heavy rains over Southeast Louisiana. By the 8th, many locations from Baton Rouge south to Thibodeaux were deluged with ten to eighteen inches of rain, producing tremendous flooding. Another round of heavy rains would erupt on the 10th and 11th as Allison’s remnants moved directly over the same area. By the end of the second round, up to thirty inches had fallen in the area around Thibodeaux. Hundreds of homes were flooded. Residents in the Youngsville area of Lafayette Parish had to be rescued by rescue personnel on Sea-Doos!
Strong swells from Allison exacerbated the rip tide conditions all along the Gulf Coast. Conditions became so bad that storm warning sirens were actually sounded at Pensacola Beach Victims included a 46 year old Tennessee man who went into the water to rescue his daughters and a 48 year old man who was swimming with his son.
Meanwhile, the outer rain bands from Tropical Storm Allison were dumping heavy rains over Southeast Louisiana. By the 8th, many locations from Baton Rouge south to Thibodeaux were deluged with ten to eighteen inches of rain, producing tremendous flooding. Another round of heavy rains would erupt on the 10th and 11th as Allison’s remnants moved directly over the same area. By the end of the second round, up to thirty inches had fallen in the area around Thibodeaux. Hundreds of homes were flooded. Residents in the Youngsville area of Lafayette Parish had to be rescued by rescue personnel on Sea-Doos!