Downpours have flooded streets in Louisiana, Arkansas and Mississippi as the storm headed north and threatened to bring heavy rains to the Mississippi Valley and the Midwest over the next few days, the NHC said.

Some areas could get up to 5 inches (13cm) of rain on Thursday and cause flash flooding, the centre said.

The storm, which made landfall late on Tuesday, has caused minimal property damage so far, the NHC said, but a 2-year-old girl died when a tree fell on a mobile home in Pensacola, Florida, authorities said.

As of Wednesday night, more than 2,000 homes and businesses remained without power as utility companies restored service for tens of thousands of customers across the region.

Energy companies and port operators along the Gulf Coast took steps to resume normal operations after Gordon shut 9% of the region’s oil and natural gas production.

Oil prices fell about 1% on Wednesday, after fears about the storm eased.

In the Atlantic Ocean, Hurricane Florence, a Category 3 storm on a five-step scale, barrelled toward Bermuda on Wednesday, packing maximum sustained winds of 125 mph (205kmh).

The first major hurricane of the Atlantic season will affect Bermuda’s surf by Friday, but it was too early to say whether it would hit land.

“Swells from Florence could also reach the US East Coast by early next week,” the NHC said.

Florence was 1,235 miles (1,990km) east-southeast of Bermuda on Wednesday night.

Some weakening is forecast during the next couple of days, “but Florence is expected to remain a powerful hurricane through early next week,” the NHC said.