Tropical Storm Cindy continues to churn in the central Gulf of Mexico.

Cindy remains a tropical storm at 11 p.m. Tuesday with winds of 60 mph. The storm is 230 miles south of Morgan City, Louisiana, moving northwest at 7 mph.

The system was upgraded to a tropical storm Tuesday afternoon after hurricane hunter aircraft found a closed circulation. The system had been considered Potential Tropical Cyclone 3, allowing officials to hoist tropical storm watches and warnings well in advance of landfall, and preparations to quickly get underway.

Cindy is the third named system in the Atlantic basin this season and the first in the Gulf of Mexico.

Watches, warnings in place

The Tropical Storm Warning has been extended eastward to the Alabama-Florida border, including Lake Ponchartrain and the New Orleans metropolitan area.

Flooding a major concern

The biggest threat with Cindy will be heavy rainfall. Rain is already falling across much of the region, with more likely tonight and Wednesday.

Rainfall of 6 to 9 inches will be possible across much of the Interstate 10 corridor in Louisiana, Alabama and Mississippi, with isolated 12-inch amounts. Heavy rainfall is also likely across the western Panhandle. In addition, tornadoes will be possible across parts of Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama this evening and tonight.

Bret falls apart in Caribbean

Elsewhere in the tropics, Tropical Storm Bret has become a remnant system in the Caribbean. The current forecast calls for the complex to track westward and eventually dissipate in the central Caribbean.

In April, a rare tropical storm formed in the Atlantic and became Arlene, the first named storm of 2017.