Barry makes landfall on Louisiana coast, weakens to tropical storm
Hurricane centre says storm surge, heavy rains, wind expected
The Associated Press · Posted: Jul 13, 2019 5:57 AM ET | Last Updated: 6 minutes ago



A man wades through a storm surge from Lake Pontchartrain on in Mandeville, La., as Hurricane Barry approaches Saturday. (Matthew Hinton/Associated Press)


Barry has made landfall in Louisiana and has weakened from hurricane strength to a tropical storm.
The U.S. National Hurricane Center says the storm arrived on land Saturday afternoon near Intracoastal City.
The centre is warning of dangerous storm surge, heavy rains and strong winds.
National Hurricane Center director Ken Graham said that Barry had gathered "a big slough of moisture" and was expected to dump rain on the area throughout the weekend.
This is a breaking news update. The previous version of the story can be seen below

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Authorities say water is flowing over the tops of a few levees in areas south of New Orleans as Hurricane Barry nears the coast.
The storm reached hurricane strength on Saturday as it was poised to make landfall as the first Atlantic hurricane of 2019, with heavy rain and strengthening winds near Louisiana's shore.
Officials said Saturday morning the levees are in lower Plaquemines Parish and are not the main levees protecting the Mississippi River.
Plaquemines Parish emergency workers told news outlets they are getting crews to check the levees and make any repairs needed.
The levees are near Myrtle Grove and Pointe Celeste, and the water is threatening Highway 23, one of the main roads through the parish.
Louisiana Lt. Gov. Billy Nungesser told WVUE-TV anyone who remains south of Myrtle Grove should evacuate from the finger of low-lying, flood-prone land that follows the Mississippi River to the Gulf of Mexico.
Much of Plaquemines Parish had been under an evacuation order since Thursday.



The U.S. National Hurricane Center released this satellite image of the storm on Saturday. (U.S. National Hurricane Center)
The U.S. Coast Guard said it was trying to rescue a dozen people stranded on a remote Louisiana island by flooding. Petty Officer Lexie Preston said some of the people were on rooftops on the Isle de Jean Charles, about 70 kilometres south of New Orleans.
The storm was packing maximum sustained winds of 120 km/h but was expected to weaken as it moves inland, crossing the Louisiana coastline southwest of New Orleans.
The NHC said rainbands from the system began to move onshore early Saturday. Meteorologists have warned that torrential rain — as much as 60 centimetres in some places — could unleash severe flooding.
U.S. National Hurricane Center director Ken Graham said Barry is gathering "a big slough of moisture." He delivered a storm update using Facebook Live from the hurricane centre, where he pointed to a computer screen showing a big swirling mass of airborne water.




"That is just an amazing amount of moisture," he said. "That is off the chart."
Graham said the storm is moving so slowly that heavy rain will likely continue throughout the weekend across Louisiana. He reminded viewers that "83 per cent of fatalities from these systems have been from inland rain. So let's stay off the roads. Let's prevent these preventable fatalities."
According to Entergy Louisiana's outages map, more than 45,800 people have been affected by power outages. Nearly a fourth of those outages were in coastal Terrebonne Parish. A number of other southern parishes were affected, including Jefferson Parish outside of New Orleans.
Those parishes were east of Morgan City, about 110 kilometres southwest of New Orleans, where Barry is expected to make landfall as a hurricane.
Tracking forecasts showed the storm moving toward Chicago, swelling the Mississippi River basin with water that must eventually flow south again.



Vehicles make their way on I-10 as bands of rain from tropical storm Barry move into New Orleans, La., on Friday. (Matthew Hinton/The Associated Press)
Officials from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, which maintains the levees, have insisted that no significant breaching of the six-metre-high levees in New Orleans was likely.
The brunt of Barry's force was expected to skirt the western edge of New Orleans, avoiding a direct hit on a low-lying city virtually surrounded by rising waters.
But Mayor LaToya Cantrell said 48 hours of heavy downpours could overwhelm pumps designed to purge streets and storm drains of excess water.
"There is no system in the world that can handle that amount  of rainfall in such a short period," Cantrell said on Twitter.
 U.S. President Donald Trump declared a state of emergency for Louisiana on Friday, freeing up federal disaster assistance if needed.

trong chợ chắc không ai ở Louisiana ??

Chắc là hàng xóm ở Louisianna đang bị lụt cúp điện có muốn vào chợ củng không được

Hôm thứ 5 mưa như trút nước ở đây, có nhiều vùng nước ngập sâu làm 1 bà mẹ & đứa con nhỏ bị chết vì nước cuốn trôi xe ...