Lee lashes Gulf coast, flood threat expands inland

NEW ORLEANS, La — The center of Tropical Storm Lee made landfall Sunday on the Louisiana coast, bringing up to a foot of rain, spinoff tornadoes and fears of inland flash flooding to the Deep South and beyond.

The vast, soggy storm system spent hours during the weekend hovering in the northernmost Gulf of Mexico. Its slow crawl to the north gave more time for its drenching rain bands to pelt a wide swath of vulnerable coastline, raising the flood threat.

By Sunday, at least 6 to 10 inches of rain had fallen in some spots along the Louisiana and Mississippi coasts, and the National Weather Serv...