"Life-threatening" floods, tornadoes still possible as Barry sleeps off the coast of the Gulf of Mexico

Barry flooded the Gulf Coast and slowly headed north over Louisiana early Sunday, which seems likely to overwhelm the region with potentially fatal deadly floods.

But the tropical storm, with sustained maximum winds of 40 mph, is sufficiently weakened to spare New Orleans the terrible dreaded floods of recent days.

Barry's main threat at 11 am ET was the floods, the National Meteorological Service said. The storm is expected to weaken to make way for a tropical depression later Sunday, the service said.

The National Meteorological Service also warned that tornadoes could potentially cover much of the south Sunday afternoon. The service said tornadoes were possible in southeastern Louisiana, Mississippi, western Alabama, eastern Arkansas and the west. from Tennessee.

Barry was briefly strengthened Saturday after a tropical storm to become a Category 1 hurricane with sustained maximum winds of 75 mph before weakening again slightly.

He made landfall near Intracoastal City, an unincorporated community in Vermilion Parish, about 170 miles west of New Orleans, around 1 pm.

The storm caused power cuts in at least 75,000 homes and businesses in Louisiana, Alabama, Texas and Mississippi, most of them in Louisiana, the US Department of Energy announced.

The governor of Louisiana, John Bel Edwards, said Saturday that Barry's low speed makes the situation potentially more damaging.

"We would like the pace to accelerate a bit so that the area is a little faster," said the governor at a press conference.