Tropical Storm Cristobal weakens, flood threat persists

Tropical Storm Cristobal continued to weaken early Monday, after the lopsided storm crashed ashore in Louisiana and ginned up dangerous weather farther east, sending waves crashing over Mississippi beaches, swamping parts of an Alabama island town and spawning a tornado in Florida. Cristobal made a Saturday afternoon landfall between the mouth of the Mississippi River and the since-evacuated barrier island resort community of Grand Isle, with 50-mph (85-kph) winds. Making landfall well under hurricane strength, the storm had begun weakening as it moved inland late Sunday night — but heavy rainfall and a storm surge were continuing along the Gulf Coast, posing a threat across a wide area into the Florida Panhandle.