JUST IN: Tropical Storm Barry strengthening, now expected to make landfall in Louisiana as a Cat 1 hurricane Saturday, NWS says. Some areas forecast to receive more than 20 inches of rain. NWS warns of 'danger of life-threatening storm surge' in areas.
Forecasters said the storm's slow movement would mean rain would remain over the coast for an unusually long time, resulting in a threat of severe flooding along the entire central coast of the Gulf of Mexico and well inland into early next week.
The hurricane center said flooding from Barry carried the potential for"devastating impacts across southeast Louisiana and southern Mississippi," and storm surge watches and warnings were in effect for much of the Gulf Coast from Alabama to the western Louisiana coast. Storm surges are life-threatening inundations of rising water moving inland.
"It's the water that's the most deadly part of these tropical systems — 90 percent of the fatalities in these tropical systems is the water," National Hurricane Center Director Ken Graham toldLouisiana Gov. John Bel Edwards said he was confident that the Mississippi River wouldn't overflow levees. Still, he urged residents to take maximum precautions.
"This is going to be a major rain event across a huge portion of Louisiana," Edwards, who authorized the activation of up to 3,000 National Guard personnel, told reporters."Look, there are three ways Louisiana floods — storm surge, high rivers and rain. We're going to have all three." The town of Grand Isle, Louisiana, south of New Orleans, ordered a mandatory evacuation of residents at noon Thursday.
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