MANDEVILLE (Louisiana, US), July 15 (NNN-AGENCIES) — Barry weakened further on Sunday as the storm churned across the US state of Louisiana, bringing along heavy rains and the possibility of flooding and tornadoes.
There have been no reported deaths so far in Louisiana or neighboring
states from Barry, which had briefly become the first hurricane of the
Atlantic season before the National Hurricane Center downgraded it to a
tropical storm and then a tropical depression.
Still, as the storm moved inland on a northern track, it packed a serious
punch.
Louisianans kept a wary eye on rivers and canals badly swollen by the
torrential rainfall, following an extraordinarily wet season farther up the
Mississippi River.
This is “the wettest year we’ve had since 1895,” Major General Richard
Kaiser, who heads the Mississippi River Commission, said on Fox News.
He said the broad river is “the highest it’s been for a long time” — just
below flood stage.
Bands of heavy rain continued to lash New Orleans, the state’s biggest
city, but its airport was able to resume normal service after canceling all
flights on Saturday.
Fears that the levee system protecting New Orleans could be compromised
eased.
Mayor LaToya Cantrell, who a day earlier had urged residents not to be
complacent, said in a news conference Sunday that “we absolutely made it
through the storm. We are lucky; we were spared.”
As of 4 pm Sunday, the storm’s maximum sustained winds had
dropped to 55 kilometers per hour. It was located north-northeast
of Shreveport in western Louisiana, moving towards Arkansas, the National
Hurricane Center said.
“Further weakening is expected as the center moves farther inland, and
Barry is forecast to degenerate into a remnant low pressure system by Monday night,” the NHC said.
Evacuation orders had already been lifted in several locales including
Plaquemines Parish, south of New Orleans, where up to 10,000 residents had been under orders to leave.
Many coastal areas remained on alert.
Tornadoes were possible in parts of Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama,
Arkansas and Tennessee, the NHC said.
For many, the storm revived unpleasant memories of Hurricane Katrina.
In 2005, Katrina — the costliest and deadliest hurricane in recent US
history — submerged about 80 percent of New Orleans after the city’s levee
system failed, causing about 1,800 deaths and more than $150 billion in
damage. — NNN-AGENCIES
