Hurricane Nate has weakened to a tropical depression after coming ashore in Mississippi as the fourth hurricane to hit the US this year, flooding roads and buildings but sparing the state from catastrophic damages.
As the storm moved northeast into Alabama, Nate's maximum sustained winds dropped to 55km/h, prompting the National Hurricane Center to end its tropical storm warnings for the region.
The storm made landfall as a Category 1 hurricane, the weakest designation by the centre. Only a few hours earlier, its winds had been blowing at 70 mph but appeared to lack the devastating punch of its recent predecessors.
"We are very fortunate this morning and have been blessed," Mississippi Governor Phil Bryant told reporters, saying there had been no deaths or reports of catastrophic damage.
The fourth major storm to strike the US in less than two months, Nate killed at least 30 people in Central America before entering the warm waters of the Gulf of Mexico and bearing down on the US South. It has also shut down most oil and gas production in the Gulf.
Nate follows hurricanes Harvey, Irma and Maria, which have devastated areas of the Caribbean and southern US.
The tropical depression's centre will move up through Alabama into Tennessee and Kentucky through Monday, the National Hurricane Center said.
Heavy rainfall and storm surge flooding remained a danger across the region, and the centre said Florida's Panhandle and parts of Alabama and Georgia might feel tropical storm-force wind gusts.
Nate made its first US landfall on Saturday evening near the mouth of the Mississippi River and then made a second one early on Sunday near Biloxi, Mississippi.
Floodwaters swept over streets in communities across Alabama and Mississippi, including over Highway 90 and to oceanside casinos in Biloxi, according to reports on social media.
In Alabama, Governor Kay Ivey urged residents in areas facing heavy winds and storm surges to take precautions. US President Donald Trump declared federal emergencies in Alabama and Florida on Sunday, which provides additional funding for disaster relief.
About 47,000 customers were without power in Mississippi, while more than 1000 people had arrived at shelters, the state Emergency Management Agency said.
Utility Alabama Power said about 82,000 customers were without electricity.
Rainfall of 8 to 15cm were expected east of the Mississippi River in Alabama and Tennessee, the NHC said.
New Orleans Mayor Mitch Landrieu lifted a curfew on Saturday evening that was originally scheduled to last until Sunday morning. He said in a statement on social media however, that there was still a serious threat of storm surge outside levee areas.
The ports of New Orleans in Louisiana and Mobile in Alabama remained closed, and refineries and port authorities in Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama were reviewing when they could reopen.
