Tropical storm forecast to make landfall at southern US as hurricane

11:50, July 13, 2019

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  Hurricane Barry slogs toward shore; weakens to tropical storm

  Aimee Cutter, the owner of Beach House restaurant, walks through water surge from Lake Pontchartrain on Lakeshore Drive in Mandeville, La., ahead of Tropical Storm Barry, Saturday, July 13, 2019. (Photo: AP)Carrying “off the chart” amounts of moisture, Barry crawled ashore Saturday in Louisiana and quickly weakened to a tropical storm that promised to dump heavy rains that could last for days and pose a test of the flood-prevention systems built after Hurricane Katrina 14 years ago.The storm made landfall near Intracoastal City, Louisiana, about 160 miles west of New Orleans, and its winds fell to 70 mph, the National Hurricane Center said.The Coast Guard rescued more than a dozen people from the remote Isle de Jean Charles, south of New Orleans, where water rose so high that some residents clung to rooftops. But in the city, locals and tourists wandered through mostly empty streets under a light rain or stayed indoors.Video showed water overtopping a levee in Plaquemines Parish south of New Orleans, where fingers of land extend deep into the Gulf of Mexico. Officials were still confident that the levees would hold firm.More than 70,000 customers were without power Saturday morning, including 66,830 in Louisiana and 3,140 in Mississippi, according to poweroutage.us.Barry had strengthened into a Category 1 hurricane by Saturday morning, with maximum sustained winds of 75 mph (120 kph), the National Hurricane Center said. Storms become hurricanes when their winds reach 74 mph (120 kph) or higher.Barrywas expected to weaken again after reaching land and become a tropical depression on Sunday.Officials predicted the hurricane would make landfall near Morgan City, west of New Orleans. The small town had an overnight curfew that expired Saturday morning, after on-and-off rain and power outages. People used cellphones to see in the dark, and opened doors and windows to let the warm, sticky tropical air circulate.Though expected to be a weak hurricane, Barry thr...

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  New Orleans bracing for storm Barry

  Delilah Campbell , 4, and her sister, Tallulah Campbell, 8, clear out driftwood and other debris in preparation of Tropical Storm Barry near New Orleans, Louisiana, on Thursday. MATTHEW HINTON/ASSOCIATED PRESS NEW ORLEANS, Louisiana - Tropical Storm Barry gathered strength on Friday as it chug

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  Flooded New Orleans braces for Tropical Storm Barry

  Tropical Storm Barry formed off the coast of Louisiana on Thursday and threatened to blow ashore as a hurricane with drenching rains that could test the flood-control improvements made in New Orleans since Hurricane Katrina 14 years ago.Terrian Jones reacts as she feels something moving in the water at her feet as she carries Drew and Chance Furlough to their mother on Belfast Street in New Orleans during flooding from a storm in the Gulf Mexico that dumped lots of rain Wednesday, July 10, 2019. (Photo: AP/Matthew Hinton)Forecasters said the first hurricane of the Atlantic season could hit the state’s swampy southern tip on Friday, with the biggest danger posed not by the wind but by downpours that could go on for hours.On Wednesday, with the gathering storm still out over the Gulf of Mexico, it dumped as much as 8 inches (20 centimeters) on metro New Orleans in just three hours. The deluge triggered flash flooding and raised fears about the even heavier rains on the way.Forecaster said the storm could pour more water into the already swollen Mississippi River, possibly sending water over levees. The river has been running high for months.Louisiana Gov. John Bel Edwards declared an emergency and said National Guard troops and high-water vehicles will be positioned all over the state.“The entire coast of Louisiana is at play in this storm,” he warned.New Orleans officials asked people to keep at least three days of supplies on hand and to keep their neighborhood storm drains clear so water can move quickly.A spokesman for the Army Corps of Engineers in New Orleans said the agency is not expecting widespread overtopping of the levees, but there are concerns for areas south of the city. Mandatory evacuations were ordered for people living near the Mississippi River in Plaquemines Parish, at Louisiana’s southeastern tip.Plaquemines Parish made sandbags available to people in areas not under evacuations orders, as did several other communities in Louisiana and Mississipp...