Barry weakens further, but flood threat remains; rain likely in central, eastern Arkansas

Rowdy Schouest clears debris Sunday in Franklin, La., in the aftermath of the storm.
Rowdy Schouest clears debris Sunday in Franklin, La., in the aftermath of the storm.

NEW ORLEANS -- Tropical Depression Barry dumped rain as it slowly swept inland through Gulf Coast states Sunday, sparing New Orleans from a direct hit but stoking fears elsewhere of flooding, tornadoes and prolonged power failures.

Though the system was downgraded to a tropical depression Sunday afternoon, and its winds were steadily weakening after it made landfall Saturday in Louisiana, Barry's rain bands created a flooding and tornado threat stretching from central Louisiana to eastern Mississippi and beyond.

Several parishes or counties in both states were under flash flood warnings, but tropical storm warnings and storm surge warnings for New Orleans have been canceled.

Far from the storm's center, tornado warnings were issued Sunday morning in Louisiana and Mississippi, though no serious damage or injuries were reported.

Barry never quite became the classic swirling figure seen with strong hurricanes, National Weather Service meteorologist Christopher Bannan said Sunday.

New Orleans Mayor LaToya Cantrell said Sunday that the city was "beyond lucky" that rainfall fell well short of early predictions of a deluge that could overwhelm the city's pumping systems. The storm made landfall on Louisiana's coast as a Category 1 hurricane Saturday, with sustained 75 mph winds.

Rainfall in New Orleans was expected Sunday to top out at about 6 inches; at one point, there were forecasts of as much as 20 inches.

"We were spared," Cantrell said at a news conference. "It just seemed to go around us."

She noted that the city was ready to help nearby parishes hit harder by the storm.

Some residents of New Orleans left in advance of the storm. Others, like Moyise Knox, a Lower Ninth Ward resident, watched the forecasts carefully and decided there was little reason to go.

Knox, 66, said his old family home was swamped by 20 feet of water after Hurricane Katrina in 2005. He moved into his current home in December.

"I had people calling me from all over -- a cousin in Oklahoma, grandchildren in Texas, my relatives calling and saying, 'It's flooding there; you've got to get out,'" Knox said. "I said, 'It's not even raining!'"

On Sunday evening, Louisiana Gov. John Bel Edwards said he was "extremely grateful" that Barry had not caused the disastrous floods that had earlier been forecast.

"This was a storm that obviously could have played out very, very differently," he said. "We're thankful that the worst-case scenario did not happen."

President Donald Trump asked people across the region to keep their guard up, saying on Twitter on Sunday: "A big risk of major flooding in large parts of Louisiana and all across the Gulf Coast. Please be very careful!"

In Mississippi, forecasters said 8 inches of rain had fallen in parts of Jasper and Jones counties, with several more inches possible. With torrential rain pounding the state's Interstate 59 corridor, only the headlights of oncoming cars were visible on the highway, and water flowed like a creek in the median.

And forecasters warned of a continued threat of heavy rains into today. The National Hurricane Center said Sunday that parts of south-central Louisiana could still have rainfall totals of up to 12 inches, with isolated pockets of 15 inches.

"This rainfall is expected to lead to dangerous, life-threatening flooding," forecasters wrote in an advisory Sunday.

RAIN IN ARKANSAS

Barry's center continued to move Sunday through northern Louisiana into Arkansas. The system had its maximum winds fall to 35 mph.

Effects of the system are anticipated today in the eastern half of Arkansas, according to a forecaster in the National Weather Service's office in North Little Rock.

"The overall speed hasn't changed too much, [with] gradual weakening as it's come inland. ... Those [winds] are more gusts than anything else," said meteorologist John Lewis. "If we have any tornadoes, they're going to be isolated at most. I think most people are concerned about the prospects of heavy rain."

Rain is most likely to affect Arkansas' central and eastern regions. On Sunday, the system was moving north at about 9 mph, Lewis said.

Between 3 and 5 inches of precipitation could be seen in some places through today, with the potential for more, before the system passes out of Arkansas on Tuesday.

Lewis said National Weather Service officials will be keeping an eye on rainfall as it relates to the White, Black, Cache and Ouachita rivers, which are high for this time of year.

"We'll take a look at how much rain has fallen and what that's going to mean to the river[s]. ... We'll see how much water we actually had," he said.

He advised people in Arkansas to continue to monitor the forecast, especially if they have interests near those rivers. The Arkansas River -- which experienced historic flooding earlier this year -- was not expected to see major effects.

Significant rainfall also could affect the state's farmers, Lewis said, noting that they got a late start planting this year after a rainy spring.

That means some crops haven't had a chance to grow and could be imperiled by very heavy localized rain, he added.

CLEANING UP

In a sign that New Orleans was returning to normal, flights resumed Sunday at its airport. Restaurants reopened, and people were retrieving their cars from medians and other areas of higher ground.

About 75,000 customers in Louisiana, 4,000 customers in Mississippi and 1,800 customers in Arkansas were without power Sunday evening, according to poweroutage.us.

Carrie Cuchens, who lost power at her home southeast of Lafayette, La., said crews were out working to remove trees that fell on power lines. Though some yards had pooling water, Cuchens didn't think her or her neighbors' homes would flood.

"There's certainly water, certainly a lot of water, and as it continues to rain, there's always that concern," she said.

Another worry is that large trees could topple because of the saturated ground.

"If this rain sits on top of us, the ground of course now is already saturated," she said. "The roots are so saturated that if any wind, or any kind of shift happens, they're easier to come up out of the ground. It's not snapping limbs -- it's the whole entire tree. We have 100-year-old trees back here."

To the southeast in Morgan City, about 20 miles from the southern coast of Louisiana, Lois and Steve Bergeron spent Sunday cleaning up their lawn, which was littered with debris from trees. They were grateful the damage wasn't worse.

"At least it didn't hit our house," she said.

Morgan City officials had been braced for a direct hit from the storm.

In Mandeville, north of New Orleans along Lake Pontchartrain, Michael Forbes was picking up limbs and other debris at his home as a drizzle fell. Water got under his house, which is on stilts, but there was no damage. The power never went off.

"I'll take this any day over something like Katrina," he said Sunday. "This will clear out, we'll clean up and we'll go on."

Information for this article was contributed by Rebecca Santana, Jonathan Drew, Kevin McGill, Jay Reeves, Rogelio Solis, Jeff Martin, Colleen Long and Jeffrey Collins of The Associated Press; by Emily Lane, David Montgomery, Richard Fausset and staff members of The New York Times; and by Kat Stromquist of the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette.

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The New York Times/BRYAN THOMAS

Tammy Graves surveys the flood damage Sunday at her home in Franklin, La.

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AP/JOSE LUIS MAGANA

Acting Homeland Security Secretary Kevin McAleenan (left) talks to workers from the Federal Emergency Management Agency on Sunday as he receives storm-related information during a visit to the agency’s headquarters in Washington.

A Section on 07/15/2019

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