Northwestern Florida News

The remnants of Tropical Storm Cindy brought tornadoes and flooding to the U.S. Gulf Coast on Thursday and its heavy rains will drench much of the eastern United States in coming days, forecasters said. Flooding and road closures stretched from east Texas into northwestern Florida after Cindy made landfall early on Thursday near the Louisiana-Texas border and weakened to a tropical depression, the National Weather Service said. Cindy is expected to dump 3 to 6 inches (7.5 to 15 cm) of rain as it heads north and east into the Ohio Valley and the Appalachian Mountains through Saturday, said Brian Hurley, a weather service meteorologist. Totals could reach 9 inches (22.5 cm) in some areas. "We're looking at quite a bit of rain. That's going to be the main threat," he said.

Eastern Shipbuilding Group said it partnered with OneBlood to host a four-day blood drive at the shipbuilder’s Allanton and Nelson locations from November 19-22. Over the four-day drive, Eastern employees donated 342 units of blood, besting the previous record of 292, with 203 from Allanton and 139 from Nelson. OneBlood, formally known as Northwest Florida Blood Bank, collects donations across the Gulf and Atlantic Florida and serves over 200 hospitals and healthcare centers across the same region with life-saving blood. Amanda Fitzhugh, Eastern’s HR Generalist and OneBlood’s Robert E.