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RED STRAW, La. – The second Earth Day of Tropical Storm Barry was a relief and worry Sunday. The slow-moving storm continued to cause funneling clouds, tornadoes and heavy rainfall in parts of Louisiana, leaving some coastal communities with water-saturated homes and highways. flooded. But the largest metropolitan areas of this state, New Orleans and Baton Rouge, seem to have avoided catastrophic floods.
One of the most serious concerns at dawn on Sunday was the possibility that runoff from the storm will swell the Amite and Comite rivers. The overflow of these two rivers in 2016 contributed to the deluge that flooded thousands of homes. However, Barry did not consider the worst-case precipitation forecasts and many flood warnings were canceled later in the day.
This was a break that pleased a region where some people had just repaired the damaged houses during the 2016 flood and where others had not yet returned home.
The possibility of repeated floods was "extremely emotionally stressful," said Layton Ricks, president of the Livingston Parish just east of Baton Rouge.
Sunday's forecast indicated that Amite would reach a ridge well below the 46-foot level three summers ago, when about 83 percent of the parish was flooded, including Mr. Ricks' home. The planned 39 feet meant that the parish could "take a deep breath," he said.
"Most rivers are currently behaving because we did not have the 10 to 20 inches that we feared," said Christopher Bannan, a weather forecaster at the National Weather Service.
The storm fell on Saturday on the southwest coast of Louisiana in the form of a Category 1 hurricane, with sustained winds of 75 km / h, but it quickly weakened. to become a tropical storm then, late in the day, a tropical depression with the slowing of the winds. . He continued to roam the area all day with bands of heavy rain.
New Orleans was hit by a pouring rain Sunday early in the afternoon, but it seemed increasingly likely that the storm would not disrupt the city's water pumping system, unlike a rain storm. of garden type when she sat on the city Wednesday, turning some streets into shallow rivers.
The relief of many New Orleansers was mingled with frustration at what they considered as exaggerated reports before the storm emanating from national media excited about the possibility of a disaster the size of the hurricane Katrina in 2005. Scott Paisant, a veteran local Scoot radio personality, devoted much of his Sunday TV show on WWL to the hype of the storm.
"The national media gave the impression that the dykes overflowed, but it was as if it was not really a lift, it was beyond lifting," he said. "But they used this video to give the impression that all of the state was about to be inundated."
Despite this, Governor John Bel Edwards reminded the Louisians in a statement that there remained serious threats stemming from the slow storm, including an "increase in tornadic activity and a persistent possibility of more than half a year." Flash floods, especially in the Acadiana region "area of ​​grasslands and bayous extending west of New Orleans.
The National Weather Service warned Sunday afternoon that "flash floods endangering life" were still expected along the storm trail inland in Arkansas, Mississippi, the southeastern Missouri and western Tennessee, at least until Monday. "A major flood of the river is also likely in south-central Louisiana," said the warning.
A tornado struck at around 8:15 am in Denham Springs, a town east of Baton Rouge, confirmed the National Meteorological Service. Another possible tornado was spotted east of Baton Rouge around 10:20 am. Damage was reported, including a trampoline launched into the air.
The problems were more severe in St. Mary's Parish, where prolonged rains and high winds combined with the high tide of Vermilion Bay to send "extremely high" waves of water into the low and small communities when the storm fell.
Rainwater has crossed the sugar cane fields, deepened swamps and turned roadside drainage ditches into small rivers. National Guard troops using a high-wheeled rescue vehicle evacuated five people from their homes to the Alice B. Plantation. More than 40 people from the Baldwin and Glencoe communities fled to the Baldwin Community Center at the height of storm. Most returned home on Sunday morning, but a few stayed.
"I pray, I go to bed and hope everything will be fine this morning," said Troy Singleton, an employee of the 52-year-old sugar refinery, who left his mobile home in Baldwin to seek refuge in the center.
William Pieroe, a 36-year-old car designer, overcame the raging storm in his mobile home in Baldwin before appearing on Sunday morning in denim shorts and a gray tank to join the One Stop convenience store.
He said he endured the storm while he was lying on the floor of his house, unable to sleep. "Strong winds, water in the house, trees falling – yes, I was scared," he said, remembering that the wind was emitting a terrifying whistle. "Thank God, we have succeeded."
The memories of Katrina's deadly floods persist in New Orleans, and some residents have left in anticipation of the storm. Others, like Moyise Knox, a resident of the Lower Ninth Ward, followed the forecasts carefully and decided that there was no reason to leave.
"Just following the direction of the storm, I knew it would not hit here," 66-year-old Knox said in the living room of his new family home. The former was submerged by 20 feet of water after Katrina; he moved into the new one in December.
This storm was little more than an annoyance, aggravated by the fear that New Orleans would drown again: "People were calling me everywhere – a cousin from Oklahoma, grandchildren from Texas, parents who were calling to tell me: There are floods out there, you have to go out. "I said," It does not even rain! "
At a press conference, Mayor LaToya Cantrell said, "We managed to weather the storm."
"Beyond luck, we have been spared," she said. "He just seemed to be walking around us."
But some residents of the city were still cleaning up Wednesday's floods. Brian Knighten, 44, and his collaborators were cleaning the Broad Theater in the downtown area after the midweek rainstorm sent two feet of water into the theater – the fourth time that 's going on. it was flooded since 2017.
Knighten is convinced that the city will never be able to improve its drainage system enough to dry out its homes and businesses. So he started installing his own flood control equipment, such as backflow preventers in the theater.
"As a citizen, you have to make the decision to hold on because you love music, the second lines and the food," Knighten said. "Or you move to a different place."
East of New Orleans, Charlie Robin, a seventh-generation shrimp farmer from the Yscloskey community in the parish of St. Bernard, said Sunday that rain threatened his livelihood. Between the midwestern spring floods and summer storms, much more fresh water than usual was flowing into the Gulf of Mexico, harming brown shrimp as it caught usually at this time of year.
Now Mr. Robin, 67, had another concern: that the storm surge had pushed juvenile white shrimps into tall grass along the coast, where he thought they might be killed by pollutants.
"Our brown shrimp were a total loss," he said. "We do not need another bad season."
East of Baton Rouge, at the First Baptist Church in Denham Springs, about 290 people gathered for Sunday service at 9:15. Ashleigh Green, who heads a women's group at the church, said a turnout of 800 to 900 people was more common. "People are always scared," she said.
The new spacious church was built after the flood of the old church located a few kilometers away until the balcony during the flood of 2016.
Leo Miller, the pastor, told his congregation that he had become physically weak Thursday when he had heard about the height of local rivers. "I know what 41 feet means in the Amite River," he said.
The service was interrupted at least twice by emergency alerts issued by mobile phones scattered throughout the congregation.
In downtown Baton Rouge, Lisa Trahan, Assistant Assistant Secretary of the Child and Family Services Department of Louisiana, was in the cavernous Raising Cane's River Center Sunday afternoon.
She had run a shelter in the arena after the 2016 flood, with nearly 3,000 people gathered for nearly three weeks. But on Sunday, she saw her staff and National Guard troops demolish 500 beds that had remained unused.
In the corner was a pile of blankets, still in their factory wrappings. Ms. Trahan said that it was a beautiful sight.
"I'm glad we do not have to unpack them," she said. "All this goes to the warehouse until next time."
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