Affiliates,
We are concluding our Barry coverage with the 9:55 newscast tonight. At this time, we are not planning on any special coverage tomorrow, but that would change if we start to see significant flooding. Stay safe and try to enjoy the rest of your weekend.
Jeff Palermo
At 4 o’clock the National Weather Service says the center of Tropical Storm Barry was 20 miles West Southwest of Lafayette and is moving toward the north-northwest near 7 mph. This general motion is expected to continue throughout the evening tonight. A turn toward the north is expected tomorrow. The center is forecasted to move across southern and southwestern Louisiana this evening, and through central Louisiana tonight, and through northern Louisiana on Sunday.
Maximum sustained winds have decreased to near 65 mph. Additional weakening is expected as the center moves farther inland, and Barry is forecast to weaken to a tropical depression on Sunday.
Roads are beginning to close across the state Department of Transportation Secretary Sean Wilson says the new, slow moving track for Barry will complicate the situation on the roads…
Strong winds from the slow-moving Barry is knocking out power for thousands of customers. Jeff Palermo has the story…
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Demco is reporting 110-thousand and Entergry is reporting 71-thousand customers are currently without power.
Some areas of the state haven’t seen much rain yet, State Climatologist Barry Keim says expect conditions to change further into the night.
At 4 o’clock the National Weather Service says the center of Tropical Storm Barry was 20 miles West Southwest of Lafayette and is moving toward the north-northwest near 7 mph. This general motion is expected to continue throughout the evening tonight. A turn toward the north is expected tomorrow. The center is forecasted to move across southern and southwestern Louisiana this evening, and through central Louisiana tonight, and through northern Louisiana on Sunday.
Maximum sustained winds have decreased to near 65 mph.and these winds are near the coast to the southeast of the center of the storm. Additional weakening is expected as the center moves farther inland, and Barry is forecast to weaken to a depression on Sunday.
Barry may be bringing a bit less rain than was projected this morning as it slowly works it’s way up the state.
Baton Rouge is now in for five to eight inches of rain, down from 10 to 15 earlier today, but National Weather Service Slidell Forecaster Robert Ricks says it’s no reason to get complacent.
Lafayette is now in the crosshairs for Tropical Storm Barry as forecasts show the system will either pass over, or skirt the edges of the capital of Acadiana.
The city will get tropical storm force winds, but Lafayette Parish Director for Emergency Preparedness Craig Stansbury says their biggest concern is the significant amount of rain that is on the way.
Barry is expected to dump 10-15 inches of water across south-central Louisiana, and Governor Edwards says that’s creating a flood risk in the Baton Rouge area. He says the Amite river will crest lower than the Great Flood of August 2016, but…
Tropical Storm Barry is continuing it’s path towards Lafayette after making landfall in Vermillion Parish, knocking out power to over 100,000 customers in coastal parishes. Jeff Palermo spoke with Entergy about the outages…
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And a weaker than expected Barry, combined with a more westerly track means that the Baton Rouge area may be in line to avoid some of the worst of the rains. Initial forecasts showed the region getting 10-15 inches of rain, but that’s since been downgraded to six to ten.
Governor John Bel Edwards says the state has mobilized it’s assets to prepare for any rescues that will need to be carried out as a result of rising waters from Barry. He says the Coast Guard has helicopters ready to save residents from sticky situations, but is asking people not to put themselves at risk voluntarily. He cautioned against disaster sightseers who might be tempted to put themselves in danger to grab a captivating Facebook video of the flood.
As the waters rise and people need to be evacuated, Department of Transportation Secretary Sean Wilson wants residents to know that the state is ready to get refugees out of flood zones and into shelters
The Louisiana Coastal Protection and Restoration Authority has distributed 29 water pumps.
Tropical Storm Barry is now working it’s way up The Boot after making landfall near Intracoastal City in Vermillion Parish, and the system is still expected to track just to the west of Lafayette before moving towards Alexandria, and off into north Louisiana.
The system is moving even slower than officials thought it would, which means this won’t just be a one day event. Governor John Bel Edwards says get ready to hunker down for the weekend and don’t go outside unless you need too.
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The slow-moving system is still projected to dump over a foot of rain across the south-central portion of the state. Department of Transportation Secretary Sean Wilson says the new, slow moving track will complicate the situation on the roads…
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DOTD has closed 16 roads so far, mostly in coastal Parishes.
After a mostly quiet morning conditions in the Baton Rouge area are beginning to deteriorate with heavy wind gusts cutting through the city and the rain continuing at a steady pace for the last two hours. Authorities are concerned that the significant amount of rainfall will lead to a record crest at the Comite River.
As nasty as those rains will be, at least the state looks set to dodge some of the worst cast scenarios that were projected in the previous 48 hours. State Climatologist Barry Keim has the new rainfall projections for Barry.
The rainfall levels for the already saturated New Orleans have also thankfully been reduced to four to eight inches.
105,000 customers are now without power as Barry make’s his way onto land. Those outages appear to be clustered in coastal parishes, and Entergy spokesperson Lee Sabatini is warning that the power can’t be fixed until the winds fall below 30 miles per hour
Barry has made landfall near Intracoastal City in Vermillion Parish and has been downgraded to a tropical storm as it works it’s way to Lafayette.
The storm is expected to dump 10-15 inches of water across portions of south Louisiana, and Governor Edwards says that’s creating a flood risk in the Baton Rouge area. He says the Amite river will crest lower than the Great Flood of August 2016, but…
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And in St. Tammany, Parish President Pat Brister says they could see flooding similar to a March 2016 event that locked down portions of the parish. Brister has the timeline on when the Pearl, Tchefuncte, and Bogue Falaya river will crest.
The rain is starting to pick up in parts of south Louisiana, but it’s still been a fairly dry morning. The Governor addressed that concern saying most of the rain that is coming is still falling in the gulf, and State Climatologist Barry Keim says expect conditions to get a lot wetter further into the afternoon.
Winds are picking up in the Baton Rouge area as a 50 mile per hour gust was reported in Tiger Stadium earlier.
Power is starting to go out across the coast, and Entergy spokesperson Lee Sabatini warns that outages along the coast will take longer than usual to address…
Some intense video from earlier showing a levee being overtopped has had some context added, as officials say that it was not a Mississippi River levee, but a backwater levee. They say this was expected, and the structure has not been breached.
Hurricane Barry continues it’s slow creep into Louisiana, having touched land in Morgan City, and it’s expected to continue moving northwest into Vermillion Parish, before hugging the western edge of Lafayette.
State Climatologist Barry Keim says the system is unusually slow moving, and looks set to stick around in the state through the weekend.
During that time parts of south-central Louisiana from the western edge of Baton Rouge to Lafayette will receive 10 to 15 inches of rain, with isolated areas looking at potential for even more rain.
There’s some pretty gripping video on twitter at the moment of a levee in Myrtle Grove in Plaquemines Parish being overtopped, but officials say it is not a breach, and they anticipated overtopping’s in some areas as the river’s already at a high water.
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St. Tammany Parish President Pat Brister says some of the river systems that flooded in a 2016 march flood event are expected to flood again as heavy rainfall combines with already high river levels. She says compared to 2016…
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Highway 51 from I-10 to Ruddock has been closed due to high water.
Entergy is reporting power outages to 66,830 residents in Louisiana as of this morning to due the strong and steady winds of Hurricane Barry, but Spokesperson Lee Sabatini says repairs can’t begin until the winds fall below 30 miles per hour.
The governor will be addressing the state with an update on the situation at 1PM.
Hurricane Barry has made landfall near Morgan City and is expected to continue it’s current northwest track that will take it just west of Lafayette, but there’s some good news for Louisiana residents this hour as it looks like the worst case scenarios for rainfall from the incoming hurricane Barry may be avoided. State Climatologist Barry Keim says a lot of rain is still on the way, but it’ll fall shy of the nearly two feet of rain anticipated yesterday.
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But he adds the rain will likely fall all through the weekend, and even into Monday morning for parts of north Louisiana.
And some of the first heavy rain bands from Barry are expected to start impacting the Mandeville, Covington, Folsom, and Slidell after spending most of the morning dumping a lot of rain over Mobile, Alabama and the Mississippi Gulf Coast.
St. Tammany Parish President Pat Brister says the parish is anticipating similar, if not worse flooding than they got in 2016 due to the already high rivers.
To the south of St. Tammany New Orleans has had it’s rainfall expectations lowered to four to eight inches of rain throughout the weekend.
The coast guard has already had to make some rescues this morning in Terrebonne Parish. Around 4:30 this morning crews retrieved 12 people who were facing rising waters.
Several shelters have opened to provide residents refuge from the effects of Barry. Department of Children and Family Services Secretary Marketa Garner Walters says you can keep track of different shelter locations by listening to your parish leaders, but the best way to get that info is dialing 2-1-1.
State run shelters are pet friendly, and the Louisiana Humane Society wants to remind people it is illegal to leave your dogs behind in a flood.
Barry has officially developed into a hurricane just off the coast of south-central Louisiana, and is headed north-northwest at 6 miles per hour on a collision course for Vermillion Parish in the Lake Arthur area. Once it hits land, the system is expected to track just west of Lafayette and up into Alexandria.
It’s been a relatively dry morning for most of south Louisiana, but State Climatologist Barry Keim says expect that to change further into the afternoon.
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Barry is still expected to bring 10 to 20 inches of rain to parts of south Louisiana, but a recent model shows that heavy rainfall zone will now no longer include New Orleans, which is expected to get 4-8 inches of rain.
The heaviest rainfall is projected to take place just west of Baton Rouge and span south to the coast, and over to Lafayette.
With heavy rainfall anticipated in the Baton Rouge region the Cajun Navy has mobilized at L’Auberge Casino and Hotel in south Baton Rouge. They’re putting the call out for additional volunteers to assist in post-storm flood rescue and recovery, but founder Todd Terrell says with the conditions they are expecting, not all boats are a good fit…
Those looking to volunteer can contact the Navy’s on Facebook.
So far we’ve seen water overtop a Myrtle Grove levee in Plaquemines Parish. The Coastal Protection and Restoration Authority says it’s not a levee failure.
Several shelters have opened to provide residents refuge from the effects of Barry. Department of Children and Family Services Secretary Marketa Garner Walters says if you are heading to one, bring personal hygiene items, medications, and don’t worry about food…
Tropical Storm Barry continues to slowly make its way towards the Louisiana coast, eyeing a landfall near Vermilion Bay later this morning or early this afternoon, possibly as a Category One hurricane. So far we’ve seen water overtop a Myrtle Grove levee in Plaquemines Parish.
The Coastal Protection and Restoration Authority says it’s not a levee failure and state and local officials anticipate this type of issue.
The U-S Coast Guard was called to rescue 12 people and a cat from a flooded island in Terrebonne Parish. And strong winds are causing scattered power outages.
So far not much rain from Barry. Radar indicates strong storms on the Mississippi Gulf coast, the Florida Panhandle and south Alabama, while the significant rainfall for Louisiana remains offshore.
The Bayou State is still expecting 10 to 20 inches of rain for south central and southeast Louisiana. Northeast Louisiana is also under a flash flood watch until Monday morning.
Tropical Storm Barry’s maximum sustained winds are 70-miles an hour and dangerous storm surge and heavy rain are expected. Governor Edwards says the state has done a lot to prepare for this storm…
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Storm shelters are available and calling 211 is the best way to stay up to date…
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