At a news conference Thursday morning, about 90 minutes after the Cindy was downgraded from a tropical storm to a tropical depression.
Cindy's maximum sustained winds had decreased to near 40 miles per hour with additional weakening expected, the U.S.
The 10 a.m. coordinates from the National Hurricane Center - Tropical Depression Cindy is located about 165 miles northwest of Lake Charles.
Meteorologist Eboni Deon said the system will bring heavy rain and storms to Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and western portions of the Florida Panhandle.
Friday and Friday night, the heavy rainfall is forecast to shift to the Tennessee and OH valleys and the Appalachians, where two to four inches of rain is possible and isolated amounts to half a foot.
Tropical Storm Cindy sloshed ashore early Thursday in southwestern Louisiana, and the National Weather Service says moisture associated with that system will impact the Lehigh Valley this weekend. "That continues to be the threat", said Ken Graham, of the National Weather Service Office near New Orleans.
The West Virginia Division of Homeland Security and Emergency Management held briefings for emergency managers statewide Thursday, with another scheduled Friday morning, spokesman Lawrence Messina said.
The remnants of Tropical Storm Cindy take aim at Eastern Kentucky
Heavy rainfall and severe thunderstorms continue to extend well out from the center of Cindy, especially to its east and north. The governors of Alabama and Louisiana both declared a state of emergency earlier this week due to the coming storm.
Cindy is expected to produce rainfall totals of 3 to 6 inches over eastern Texas, western and central Louisiana and southern and eastern Arkansas through Friday morning with some spots getting as much as 12 inches of rain.
In southwest Louisiana, not far from where Cindy came ashore before dawn, motorists in trucks drove through knee-high water in the streets of Cameron Parish - but there was no serious flooding.
Forecasters expected flooding of between 1 and 3 feet above ground level along the Gulf Coast in the area under the tropical storm warning, which stretched between High Island, Texas, to Morgan City, La., as of 5 a.m. ET Thursday. "It was quiet for us the rest of the day".
The NHC upgraded the low to Tropical Storm Cindy on Tuesday. Those storms will then spread across the southern half of the state with the southeast region predicted to get the most rain.
The southeast corner of the state from El Dorado to south of Pine Bluff through Helena West-Helena is under a slight risk for severe weather and could see severe storms as early as Thursday afternoon and evening.
Numerous coastal roads and highways flooded and there were scattered reports of power outages and building damage from wind or water.
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