New Orleans threatened by floods as tropical storm forms
THE US city of New Orleans prepared on Wednesday to face the first tropical storm of the season, which could become a hurricane and led the governor of Louisiana to declare a state of emergency.
“It is still too soon to tell what the impact will be, but we believe there will be an impact,” New Orleans mayor LaToya Cantrell said at a press conference in the city which was devastated by Hurricane Katrina in 2005.
“Be prepared for the impacts,” she warned, reminding residents that the city had already received up to eight inches of rain in three hours that morning.
There was partial flooding.
New Orleans was placed under a stormsurge watch on Wednesday morning along with a stretch of Louisiana coast as a tropical storm formed in the Gulf of Mexico, threatening the region with potentially life-threatening rains.
The storm-surge watches warn residents of possible flooding from rising waters and coasta l inundations in the cit y, k nown worldwide for its Mardi Gras and ja zz.
Part of New Orleans is built below sea level.
“Conditions appear favourable for this system to strengthen to a hurricane as it approaches the central Gulf Coast by the weekend,” the Miami-based National Hurricane Center said.
If the storm becomes a hurricane as anticipated, it would be the first of the Atlantic season and would be named Barry.
Parts of the southeastern Louisiana coast were already experiencing heavy rains and flooding, the NHC said.
Jefferson Parish, which includes parts of New Orleans, was drenched in 10 to 15 centimetres of rain and five to eight more were expected.
Louisiana governor John Bel Edwards declared the state of emergency, which
a llows t he state to prov ide additiona l resources for storm preparation.
Power out
Residents in the risk zone are currently encouraged to stay home and “shelter in place”.
On Wednesday morning nearly 10,000 inhabitants lost electricit y in New Orlea ns.
During Hurricane Katrina levees collapsed under the weight of the water, flooding 80 per cent of the cit y. More than 1,800 people died during t he catastrophe.
At 2100 GMT on Wednesday (4am on Thursday in Cambodia) the storm system was 200km southeast of the mouth of the Mississippi River.
The storm packed sustained winds of 65km/h, still way below hurricane force of 119k m/h but on track to become a tropical storm by Thursday and a hurricane by Friday.
It was expected to unload as much as a foot of rain over the Gulf coast through early next week, forecasters said.
Local authorities also issued warnings to residents as the Mississippi River neared flood levels, rising to 4.9m in New Orleans as of 1300 GMT.
The levees protecting the city are built to hold back the river to a depth of 6m, a level that forecasters warned could be reached by Saturday morning.
During the press conference, a spokesman from Flood Protection said he was “confident” in the levees’ ability to hold back the water, while one of his colleagues added that the 118 pumps spread throughout the city where operating at “optimum capacity”.
The Army Corps of Engineers, which operates the flood control system, said it was “closely monitoring” the situation.
The mayor closed city hall and urged non-essential employees to stay home.
The city’s airport reported numerous flight delays, but it “will stay open unless conditions become unsafe or infrastructure is damaged”, an airport spokesman said during the press conference.