The Selma Times-Journal

Arlene came in like a lamb, according to Emergency Management Agency Director Brett Howard.

The tropical storm, which was expected to bring 3-5 inches of rain and winds up to 60 m.p.h. into the Dallas County area didn’t live up to the hype, Howard said.

“It hasn’t been too bad,” Howard said. “The weather service said at the briefing at 4 p.m. that they’re not going to put out any tornado watches.”

The storm weakened significantly as it made landfall yesterday afternoon. Only a few people were driven into storm shelters as Arlene hit.

Arlene arrived near the Florida-Alabama line around 3 p.m. (EDT). Forecasters at the National Hurricane Center would not provide specifics of when and where the broad center of the loosely defined storm came ashore.

The southern half of Alabama was expected to receive 3-5 inches of rain and 17 counties were under a tornado watch until 5 p.m. CDT. Some flooding was reported on coastal highways, but no major property damages were reported by Emergency Management Agency officials.

The Associated Press contributed to this story.