Tropical Storm Barry closes in on Louisiana

'It's powerful. It's strengthening. And water is going to be a big issue'

Tropical Storm Barry began rolling in from the Gulf of Mexico on Friday with the potential for one of the biggest drenchings Louisiana has ever seen, an epic deluge that could show whether New Orleans learned the lessons of Hurricane Katrina over a decade ago.

With the steadily strengthening storm expected to blow ashore early Saturday near Morgan City as the first hurricane of the Atlantic season, authorities rushed to close floodgates and raise the barriers around the metropolitan area of 1.3 million people.

An estimated 3,000 National Guard troops along with other rescue crews were posted around Louisiana with boats, high-water vehicles and helicopters. Drinking water was lined up. Utility repair crews with bucket trucks moved into position in the region.

While no evacuations were ordered in New Orleans, many homeowners sandbagged their property or, in the case of exposed, low-lying areas along the coast, packed up and left. Tourists crowded the city’s airport in hopes of catching an early flight and getting out of town ahead of the storm.

"This is happening. ... Your preparedness window is shrinking," National Hurricane Center Director Ken Graham warned. He added: "It’s powerful. It’s strengthening. And water is going to be a big issue."

BRYAN NORCROSS TALKS TROPICS:   Tropical Storm Barry still disorganized, but headed toward Louisiana

Forecasters said slow-moving Barry could unload 10 to 20 inches of rain through Sunday across a swath of Louisiana that includes New Orleans and Baton Rouge, as well as southwestern Mississippi, with pockets in Louisiana getting 25 inches.

The storm’s leading edges lashed the state with bands of rain for most of the day, and some low-lying roads near the coast were already covered with water Friday morning as the tide rose and Barry pushed water in from the Gulf of Mexico.

Barry was expected to arrive as a weak hurricane, just barely over the 74 mph windspeed threshold. But authorities warned people not to be fooled by that.

"Nobody should take this storm lightly just because it’s supposed to be a Category 1 when it makes landfall," Louisiana Gov. John Bel Edwards said. "The real danger in this storm was never about the wind anyway. It’s always been about the rain.”

Authorities took unprecedented precautions: The governor said it was the first time all floodgates were sealed in the New Orleans-area Hurricane Risk Reduction System. Still, he said he didn’t expect the river to spill over the levees. Workers also shored up and raised the levee system in places with beams, sheet metal and other barriers.

Barry’s downpours could prove to be a severe test of the improvements made to New Orleans’ flood defenses since the city was devastated by Hurricane Katrina in 2005. The Mississippi River is already running abnormally high because of heavy spring rains and snowmelt upstream, and the ground around New Orleans is soggy because of an 8-inch torrent earlier this week.

The Mississippi is expected to crest Saturday at about 19 feet in New Orleans, where the levees protecting the city range from about 20 to 25 feet in height. That could leave only a small margin of safety in some places, particularly if the storm were to change direction or intensity.

Scientists say global warming is responsible for more intense and more frequent storms and floods, but without extensive study they cannot directly link a single weather event to the changing climate.

President Donald Trump declared a federal emergency for Louisiana, authorizing the Department of Homeland Security and the Federal Emergency Management Agency to coordinate relief efforts.

On Friday afternoon, Barry was about 100 miles southwest of the mouth of the Mississippi, and its winds had jumped to 65 mph. Tracking forecasts showed the storm continuing on toward Chicago, swelling the Mississippi River basin with water that must eventually flow south again.

With lightning flashing in the distance and some streets already covered with water from heavy rains, shoppers at an Albertsons grocery store in Baton Rouge stripped shelves bare of bread. Half the bottled water was gone.

Kaci Douglas and her 15-year-old son, Juan Causey, were among dozens filling sandbags at a fire station in Baton Rouge. She planned to sandbag the door of her townhouse. "I told my son it’s better to be safe than sorry," she said.

In New Orleans, Adam Slocum and his wife got ice, water and extra food, filled their generator with gas and parked their cars on higher ground at a nearby grocery store. Still, he said he wasn’t too concerned about his house.

"We’re anticipating more water than wind," he said. "My house is raised, and being this close to the river we typically don’t have too many problems."

New Orleans Mayor LaToya Cantrell said Thursday that Barry could dump water faster than the city’s drainage pumps can move it. However, the city did not order any evacuations because Barry was so close and was not expected to become a major hurricane.

Hurricane Katrina caused catastrophic flooding in New Orleans 14 years ago and was blamed for more than 1,800 deaths in Louisiana and other states, by some estimates.

In its aftermath, the Army Corps of Engineers began a multibillion-dollar hurricane-protection system that isn’t complete. The work included repairs and improvements to some 350 miles of levees and more than 70 pumping stations that remove floodwaters.

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About the Authors:

Nicole Perez is the the primary co-anchor of Local 10 News at 4 p.m., 5 p.m., 6 p.m. and 11 p.m. She first joined Local 10 in July 2016 as the morning traffic reporter.