Tropical Storm — Amite, Mississippi

2002-10-02 to 2002-10-03 · Amite, Mississippi

Wider weather episode

Hurricane Lili, a major hurricane over the Gulf of Mexico, during the daylight hours of October 2, 2002 moved steadily northwest around 15 mph toward the Louisiana coast during the evening hour. The hurricane weakened rapidly to a Saffir Simpson Scale Category 1 Hurricane by the time it made landfall during the morning of October 3rd along the south central Louisiana coast. The hurricane moved north northwest across south central Louisiana before turning northeast across the northern portion of the Louisiana. While Hurricane Lili made landfall in south central Louisiana, tropical storm force wind gusts affected nearly all of south Mississippi during October 3rd as rainbands moved across the southern portion of the state. Storm surge flooding affected the coastal areas with tides generally 3 to 5 feet above normal along the coastal areas causing some flooding in low lying coastal areas, but storm surge flooding was less severe and damaging than during Tropical Storm Isidore a week earlier. The highest recorded wind gusts on October 3rd was 43 mph at 1441 CST at Keesler Air Force Base in Biloxi. Over inland portions of southwest Missisippi some trees were knocked down by strong wind gusts. Several weak, short lived tornadoes touched down, however property damage was generally minor.

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 5322611. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.