Tropical Storm Claudette has hit the southeastern US, with heavy rain lashing Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama.

The storm headed inland on Saturday, bringing flooding and the threat of tornadoes.

Claudette was categorised as a storm in the early hours of Saturday, well after it came ashore southwest of New Orleans.

Danny Gonzales, right, stands in front of his flooded house with his neighbor Bob Neal, upset with power company trucks driving though the flooded neighborhood pushing water back into his home, after Tropical Storm Claudette passed through, in Slidell, La., Saturday, June 19, 2021. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert)
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Neighbours survey their flooded homes in Louisiana. Pic: AP
A flooded neighborhood is seen after Tropical Storm Claudette passed through in Slidell, La., Saturday, June 19, 2021. The National Hurricane Center declared Claudette organized enough to qualify as a named storm early Saturday, well after the storm's center of circulation had come ashore southwest of New Orleans. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert)
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Police in Slidell, Louisiana, said some people had to be rescued from their cars

Three hours later, it was north of the city with maximum sustained winds of 45mph, travelling at 12mph.

Tornado warnings were issued for the Mississippi coast through to the western Florida panhandle – a strip of land roughly 200 miles long in the state’s northwest.

Roughly 13,000 homes and businesses had power cuts across Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama on Saturday, according to website poweroutage.us

In the Louisiana city of Slidell, streets were flooded, with as many as 50 cars and trucks swamped with water.

More on Alabama

Police said on Facebook: “A few low-lying areas are still inundated with water and cannot be reached.

“We had to rescue multiple people from their flooded cars, along with a woman who was on her way to the hospital, possibly going into labour.”

Danny Gonzales, walks in his flooded house as water recedes, after Tropical Storm Claudette passed through, in Slidell, La., Saturday, June 19, 2021. The National Hurricane Center declared Claudette organized enough to qualify as a named storm early Saturday, well after the storm's center of circulation had come ashore southwest of New Orleans.(AP Photo/Gerald Herbert)
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Danny Gonzales in his flooded house in the city of Slidell. Pic: AP

The heaviest rain was near the Alabama-Mississippi state line.

In Mobile County, Alabama, Glen Brannan of the county Emergency Management Agency said a fishing pier on Dauphin Island had been damaged but there were no reports of injuries.

“We’ve got little squalls running through,” he added.

“It will raining really really hard for a few minutes and slack up for a few minutes.

“Just a lot of water on the roads.”

Forecasters say that Claudette will weaken to a tropical depression by early Sunday as it crosses Alabama and heads for Georgia and the Carolinas.

It will move into the Atlantic from North Carolina on Monday, regaining tropical storm strength over the ocean on Tuesday.

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