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The state of Louisiana is soaked after being hit by Barry this weekend, the Category 1 hurricane which quickly weakened into a Tropical storm.
Barry hit land as a hurricane on Saturday, but lost steam quickly over land, dropping back to a tropical storm, and eventually by Sunday afternoon being classified as a tropical depression.
Barry is officially the first hurricane to make landfall in the US this hurricane season. Barry is only the fourth hurricane to ever make landfall in the month of July on the Louisiana coast.
Louisiana is known for the hurricanes, but normally they don’t hit until later in the season.
Just because Barry wasn’t as big as past hurricanes doesn’t mean he didn’t cause an awful lot of damage! Louisiana was braced for the worst and still got pummeled.
The US has seen a lot of rain this spring, meaning the area was already wet. The Mississippi River’s levels were already high before the threat of Barry and all the water he would dump on the state.
Sheriff’s deputies went door-to-door this weekend after several levees failed, notifying residents of impending flooding and evacuation warnings.
The levees in both Terrebonne, St Marys, and Plaquemines parishes failed, causing a flood of water in residential areas that did not expect to see such levels.
Over the weekend, search and rescue teams saved over 90 people trapped in flooded homes or buildings.
Louisiana Governor spoke to media after the storm, saying how thankful he was that New Orleans was spared. The major rains, wind, and damage happened around the historic town, which has suffered its fair share of hurricane damage in the past.
The issue with New Orleans is that the city is actually below sea level, so flooding is a very serious concern. Levees, pumps, and floodwalls protect the city, but as seen in the past, they are not foolproof.
Barry is still moving, slowly, up into the US. Inches of rain is still expected to fall within the coming days, which could still result in life-threatening flooding to those in its path.
The tropical depression is expected to move across the northwestern part of Louisiana and continue through Arkansas. Tornados are also a possibility with this storm, so residents should be paying attention to news reports.
Over 90,000 people were without power as of Sunday night in Louisiana and Mississippi.
