Cindy weakens but still stirs weather over wide swath

NEW ORLEANS (AP) — A suspected tornado near Birmingham, Alabama, flattened businesses and injured one person Thursday, while the mayor of a coastal Louisiana town urged residents to evacuate ahead of a rising tide — two lingering effects of a weakening Tropical Depression Cindy that was fueling harsh weather across the Southeast.
The walls of a liquor store and an oil-change service in Fairfield, west of Birmingham, collapsed in the apparent twister. A fast-food restaurant also was a