Tropical Depression Mindy drenches Georgia and South Carolina with heavy rain

Tropical Depression Mindy moved off the coast of Georgia after lashing Georgia and South Carolina with heavy rainfall Thursday morning, the National Hurricane Center said. The storm is expected to bring several inches of rainfall to South Carolina this afternoon that could produce "scattered flash, urban, and small stream flooding."

Mindy was located about 45 miles south-southeast of Savannah, Georgia, with maximum sustained winds of 35 mph, the hurricane center said. Mindy, the 13th named storm of the season, made landfall on the Florida Panhandle as a powerful tropical storm Wednesday night, drenching the state with six inches of rain.

Forecasters expect Mindy to weaken into a remnant by Friday evening as it moves away from the U.S. and further into the Atlantic. 

On Thursday, the storm brought a combination of rain and high tides to Charleston, South Carolina, forcing more than a dozen road closures due to flooding, CBS affiliate WCSC reported. The Beaufort County Sheriff's Department encouraged motorists to "avoid flooded roadways, seek alternate routes and travel only if necessary."

Meanwhile, Hurricane Larry, a Category 1 storm, is expected to bring tropical storm conditions to Bermuda on Thursday, with maximum sustained winds of 90 mph. Through the end of the week, forecasters said Larry will generate swells that would likely cause "life-threatening surf and rip current conditions" on the U.S. East Coast and Atlantic Canada.

In Louisiana, residents are still recovering from the wreckage of Hurricane Ida. The Category 4 storm slammed into the Louisiana coast last week, leaving over 1 million residents without power. The hurricane's death toll jumped to 82 on Wednesday.

President Joe Biden has blamed the nation's latest rash of heavy storms on climate change, calling on lawmakers to invest in a bi-partisan bill aimed at revitalizing infrastructure to protect Americans from future storms.  

"The evidence is clear. Climate change poses an existential threat to our lives, to our economy," Mr. Biden said Tuesday in New York where he toured damage from Hurricane Ida.  "And the threat is here. It's not going to get any better. The question is, can it get worse?"