New Delhi, July 24 -- HOUSTON - Tropical Storm Bertha crossed into Texas on Thursday morning, threatening flash flooding in one of the nation's most flood-prone metropolitan regions as the storm tracked west-northwest after making landfall along the Louisiana coast the previous evening. The National Hurricane Center placed the storm's center approximately 35 miles north of Galveston as of Thursday's morning advisory, with maximum sustained winds near 40 miles per hour and the system expected to dissipate by nightfall.

The storm's track carried it across the upper Texas coast and into eastern Texas during the day, with the National Hurricane Center forecasting rainfall of one to three inches along the Gulf Coast and South Texas, with isol...