Barry makes landfall over Louisiana as some levees get overwhelmed

Yet the stormy weather and the risks associated with it are from over. “I want to caution everybody. This is just the beginning,” Edwards said.

Barry was a hurricane for roughly three hours. The National Hurricane Center made that call just shy of 11 a.m. ET, determining the maximum sustained winds were 75 miles per hour, as the Category 1 hurricane was only dozens of miles south of the coast. Barry was the first named hurricane of the Atlantic hurricane season.

Among its hazards are life-threatening storm surge to coastal areas of Louisiana and Mississippi, heavy rainfall and flash flooding, and strong wind and the threat for downed trees and power lines, according to the National Weather Service. Tornadoes are also possible. Over the next couple days Barry will continue to weaken and dissipate as it rolls through Arkansas and Missouri.

Flooding remains a significant concern as the ground is already saturated in places such as New Orleans, the streets of which flooded due to heavy rain on Wednesday. The National Hurricane Center said up to rain accumulations are expected to be 10 to 20 inches in south-central and southeast Louisiana and southwest Mississippi, and 25 inches of rain could fall in some isolated areas.

(Screenshot / National Hurricane Center)

The weather event will be a major test for levees along the Mississippi River, some of which have a height as low as 20 feet. New Orleans officials have urged residents within the protection of city levees to stay home and hunker down rather than flee the city, though other towns in Louisiana such as Grand Isle opted for mandatory evacuation on Thursday afternoon. Floodgates in New Orleans were all closed by Friday evening as the National Weather Service issued a hurricane warning for the area.

By the afternoon, some levees not along the Mississippi River were being overtopped due to high water.

In Lafourche Parish, video from the South Lafourche Levee, posted by the local sheriff’s office, showed Louisiana Highway 1 flooded on Saturday.

Water also appeared to rise above a levee in St. Mary Parish, near where Barry made landfall. Parish President David Hanagriff issued a mandatory evacuation for some residents and deputes went around knocking on doors to let people know as the water level rose.

Last week Governor Edwards said the levees would likely not be topped by storm surging. He did, however, share concerns that floodwaters would be substantial, saying, “This is going to be a major rain event across a huge portion of Louisiana … Look, there are three ways Louisiana floods — storm surge, high rivers, and rain. We’re going to have all three.”

More than 1000,000 Louisiana homes and businesses lost power even before the storm made landfall and the Coast Guard rescued 12 people, including some on rooftops, and a cat from Island Road in Cocodrie, Louisiana, was also rescued this morning. They were flown to a shelter in Houma, Louisiana.

Most flights in and out of Louis Armstrong New Orleans International Airport and Baton Rouge Metropolitan Airport have been scrubbed.

(AP Photo/Matthew Hinton)

The Louisiana National Guard has mobilized more than 2,500 of its Army and Air Guard members to respond to the storm. President Trump declared a state of emergency for Louisiana on Friday in advance of Barry’s impact, freeing up federal assistance to local response efforts.

Barry’s landfall comes nearly 14 years after Hurricane Katrina hit Louisiana as a Category 3 major hurricane, overwhelming levees around New Orleans and creating a flooding disaster in the Big Easy. New Orleans constructed a $14 billion flood-mitigation system, comprised of a network of levees and floodwalls, after Katrina’s devastation killed more than 1,800 people in 2005.

Barry Hits Louisiana

A man rides a bicycle on Canal Street on Saturday in New Orleans as Tropical Storm Barry nears landfall.

(AP Photo/David J. Phillip)

Barry Hits Louisiana

Gordon Helman carries a business poster he picked up from the road as he rides his bike through stiff winds and stinging rain in Morgan City, Louisiana.

(AP Photo/Rogelio V. Solis)

Barry Hits Louisiana

Karon Hill, left, and Celeste Cruz battle the wind and rain from Barry as it nears landfall Saturday in New Orleans.

(AP Photo/David J. Phillip)

Barry Hits Louisiana

Wesley Vinson wades through storm surge from Lake Pontchartrain on Lakeshore Drive in Mandeville, Louisiana, as Barry approaches Saturday.

(AP Photo/Matthew Hinton)

Barry Hits Louisiana

Louisiana Lt. Gov. Billy Nungesser, left center, helps move a wooden barricade to block a road where water was rising in Plaquemines Parish just south of New Orleans as Barry makes landfall along the coast on Saturday.

(Chris Granger/The Advocate via AP)

Barry Hits Louisiana

Chris Nguyen and his father, Trung, look at the moving water that breached the top of a levee in Plaquemines Parish just south of New Orleans as Barry makes landfall along the coast on Saturday.

(Chris Granger/The Advocate via AP)

Barry Hits Louisiana

Collen Schiller and Wesley Vinson wade through storm surge from Lake Pontchartrain on Lakeshore Drive in Mandeville, La., Saturday. The waves are caused by the wind and storm surge from Barry in the Gulf of Mexico. Mandeville is on the north shore of the lake, while New Orleans is on the south shore.

(AP Photo/Matthew Hinton)

Barry Hits Louisiana

Water breached a back levee in Plaquemines Parish just south of New Orleans forcing a last minute roundup of cattle near Myrtle Grove, La., as Barry makes landfall along the coast on Saturday.

(Chris Granger/The Advocate via AP)

Barry Hits Louisiana

A vehicle kicks up a water spray as winds and rain increase in Morgan City, Louisiana, Saturday morning as Barry approaches.

(AP Photo/Rogelio V. Solis)

Barry Hits Louisiana

Todd Hoffpauir apologizes to a customer that he was out of inventory at his Morgan City, Louisiana, donut shop on Saturday. Hoffpauir had not intended to open his business, because of the threat of Tropical Storm Barry to the area, but he said once the police from the station next door saw he was in the building, the demand was overwhelming and he ended up making and selling donuts for over five hours.

(AP Photo/Rogelio V. Solis)

Barry Hits Louisiana

Richmond, New Hampshire’s Alicia Drew, a volunteer with the American Red Cross, talks next to her cot inside Live Oak Junior High School’s gymnasium, at a shelter there that she was managing for the Livingston Parish Office of Emergency Preparedness on Saturday.

(Travis Spradling/The Advocate via AP)

Barry Hits Louisiana

Barry Williams talks to a friend on his smartphone as he wades through storm surge from Lake Pontchartrain on Lakeshore Drive in Mandeville, Louisiana.

(AP Photo/Matthew Hinton)

Also at risk this weekend are the constellation of oil and gas rigs in the Gulf of Mexico, many of which are shutting off production and have been evacuated. Energy prices have already begun to surge in some places as a result.

The National Hurricane Center began tracking the area of low pressure sweeping over several southeastern states towards the warm waters of the gulf earlier this week. Forecasters colloquially called this a “home brew” system, as it developed over the waters of the gulf near the U.S. as opposed to off the west coast of Africa, which is not uncommon in the early part of the hurricane season.

Up until now, it has been a rather quiet Atlantic hurricane season, which officially began on June 1. There has only been one other named storm so far, Andrea, which formed into an organized tropical system in May south of Bermuda and quickly petered out.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, which is the parent agency of National Hurricane Center, predicted in May that the Atlantic hurricane season would be near-normal in 2019. They also predicted there would likely be between nine and 15 named storms with winds of 39 mph or higher, four to eight that could become hurricanes with winds of 74 mph or higher, and two to four major hurricanes that are Category 3, 4, or 5 storms with winds of 111 mph or higher.

The outlook reflected two “competing climate factors” this year. “The ongoing El Nino is expected to persist and suppress the intensity of the hurricane season. Countering El Nino is the expected combination of warmer-than-average sea-surface temperatures in the tropical Atlantic Ocean and Caribbean Sea, and an enhanced west African monsoon, both of which favor increased hurricane activity,” the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration said.

In the Pacific Ocean, there has been a little more activity with three named storms, including Barbara, which had been a powerful Category 4 hurricane but dissipated and the remnants of which brought some soggy weather to Hawaii.