Severe Weather Plagues Already Waterlogged Louisiana

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,355883,00.html

Severe Weather Plagues Already Waterlogged Louisiana
Thursday , May 15, 2008


SHREVEPORT, La. —

A line of drenching thunderstorms moved across the state from west to east Thursday after record rainfall caused flooding in waterlogged parts of Louisiana.

Most of Louisiana was under a tornado or flash flood watch Thursday, and up to 4 inches of rain were possible. Schools in Livingston Parish, northwest of New Orleans, were closed because the storms could produce flooding.

Strong thunderstorms that began late Tuesday socked the Shreveport-Bossier area in northwest Louisiana, causing widespread flooding, knocking out electricity, blowing over trees and closing schools.

Click here for more at FOX affiliate KMSS-TV.

The rainfall began Tuesday night and broke several records, including the most rain to fall in a 20-minute interval and the most rainfall in a three-hour period. More than 10 inches of rain deluged the Shreveport area, flooding at least 125 homes, officials said.

"I expected rain, but not this much," said Joseph Gardner, of Shreveport, who had items float from his garage across his front yard on Wednesday.

There were no reports of any serious injuries.

The weather system that hit south Louisiana toppled trees and washed out roads. Winds of up to 90 mph stripped roofs from a church in Baker, a school in Central and the new parish jail in Livingston.

Golf ball-sized hail also was reported as a thunderstorm moved across southeast Louisiana, said Phil Grigsby, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service. "It's one of the most intense storms we've had down here in quite a few years," he said.

More than 20,000 residents in the St. Tammany Parish area were without power late Wednesday. That number was down to about 12,000 statewide by Thursday morning, Cleco Corp. spokeswoman Susan Broussard said. The utility hoped to have electricity restored Thursday, but it also was receiving reports of new outages after storms rolled across central Louisiana, she said.

In St. Tammany Parish, there were several reports of flooded roads, and trees down. "Virtually every major road had trees across it," said Capt. George Bonnett of the sheriff's office.

Numerous roads were closed in the Shreveport region as well, along with the gates at Barksdale Air Force Base. Deputies checked houses for stranded residents in southern Caddo Parish, where floods cut off normal street access.

Shreveport's director of operational services, Mike Strong, said the city's drainage system was functioning but was inundated by rain.

Yes, it was a a bad one...I didn't have to teach today. Internet was down, just now getting back on. When the wind came, I was heading home with the kids; very scary. Several tornadoes spawned by this storm.

Hail hits region; strong winds take out power

* By JARED JANES AND DAVID MITCHELL
* Advocate staff writers
* Published: May 15, 2008 - Page: 1A - UPDATED: 12:05 a.m.
www.2theadvocate.com

Two storm systems collided over south Louisiana on Wednesday afternoon, causing floods in seven Baton Rouge-area parishes, toppling trees and causing widespread power outages, while winds of up to 90 miles an hour peeled roofs from a church in Baker, a school in Central and the new parish jail in Livingston.

Golf-ball sized hail was also reported as the thunderstorm trekked across southeast Louisiana after forming Wednesday near the Atchafalaya River basin, said Phil Grigsby, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service.

Many areas got between 4 and 6 inches of rain — with 3.89 inches measured at the Baton Rouge Metro Airport, Grigsby said. In some of the hardest-hit areas, winds ranged from 60 mph to 70 mph, topping out at 90 mph around Walker, where a Livingston Parish weather watcher reported seeing flying debris and tree limbs about 4:20 p.m.

Most of the storm activity was centered above interstates 10 and 12 all afternoon, Grigsby said.

“It’s one of the most intense storms we’ve had down here in quite a few years,” he said.

One of the hardest-hit areas was Livingston Parish, where weather spotters reported flash flooding and water entering homes in Denham Springs about 5:30 p.m.

No tornadoes were reported in Livingston or elsewhere in the state, Grigsby said.

Authorities sighted a funnel cloud near Interstate 12 at Satsuma around 5 p.m. Wednesday, but did not see it touch down, said Brian Fairburn, director of the Livingston Parish Office of Emergency Preparedness.

Emergency calls began coming in about 4 p.m. about damaged power lines and trees, said Polly Ard, Livingston Parish Sheriff’s Office communications supervisor.

“It’s covering the parish,” Ard said.

Fairburn said a tree fell across U.S. 190, temporarily blocking traffic near Walker.

High winds tore off a portion of the roof on the new parish jail in Livingston, said Deputy Perry Rushing, spokesman for the Livingston Parish Sheriff’s Office.

He said the missing roof caused some water damage in the front lobby of the building, which is still under construction.

No prisoners are in the new jail. Rushing also said the existing jail had water leaks but they did not appear to stem from roof damage. He said no prisoners had to be moved at the jail.

Rushing also reported heavy street flooding in the town of Livingston, including around the parish courthouse. He said the water did not appear to be in the courthouse but covered the sidewalk.

Farther north in the Watson area, the entrances and exits to the Richmond subdivision were blocked either by fallen trees or power lines, one resident said.

Jessica Becht, 29, said the power was out, so she was driving around her neighborhood to give her 2-year-old something to do. But she could not get out to La. 1019 or La. 447 because of blocked roads.

Becht reported heavy street flooding in her neighborhood also, saying she had to use mailboxes as a guide to keep her vehicle out of the ditch along the road.

In St. Helena Parish, Mark Harrell, director of that parish’s Office of Homeland Security and Emergency Preparedness, said that at one point power was out in 98 percent of the parish.

He reported minimal damage, primarily in the parish’s southern reaches near Livingston Parish.

East Baton Rouge Parish
A hail storm hit the Baker area about 3:15 p.m., dumping marble-size and larger pieces of hail for a half hour. The hail was accompanied by strong, gusting winds and a steady downpour that quickly flooded some streets.

Baker Police Chief Mike Knaps said the wind ripped a portion of the roof off Miracle Place Church on Main Street, sending water cascading into the church’s sanctuary. The wind also damaged air conditioning units on the former shopping center’s roof.

Leaks were coming in from everywhere after a 50-foot by 80-foot piece of the sanctuary roof was pulled off in the storm, said Lori Hartley, the church administrator. In Hartley’s office, 4 inches of water soaked the floor before church-goers started putting kiddie pools under waterfalls to stop the rains.

About 120 volunteers were in the church using squeegees to get water out of the carpet while others attempted to fix the roof before services tonight, Hartley said.

“It happened quickly,” Hartley said. “It was just like the bottom fell out.”

Knaps, the police chief, said metal storage buildings, presumably from a trailer park next to the church, were blown into a field across the street from the park.

Baker and Zachary firefighters, along with police, responded to numerous requests to help motorists stranded in flooded areas. Police also received numerous reports of trees blown down across roads in the area.

Another heavily hit area was Central, where damage was widespread along the Hooper Road area, Central Fire Department Capt. Derek Glover said. No injuries were reported despite a mobile home that overturned on top of a pickup truck on Hooper Road near the Comite River.

The unoccupied trailer being used at a construction site overturned onto the unoccupied pickup in the heavy winds, Glover said. Firefighters were also kept busy Wednesday removing trees that blocked the roadway on Sullivan Road, Hooper Road and Joor Road.

There were also numerous trees down on houses, which firefighters checked to ensure no one was inside and shutting off the natural gas to the homes, Glover said. Several roofs were blown off structures, including the roof from a snowball stand across the street from the fire station, Glover said.

A section of the roof at Central High School was damaged by the storm, Superintendent Michael Faulk said.

“We’ve got part of the roof blown off in the theater area and the water is coming in,” Faulk said. “We’re trying to get some emergency crews out here to look at covering the open area.”

Most of the harder-hit areas in East Baton Rouge Parish were in the northern parts of the parish, but flooded streets and heavy rains in Baton Rouge also created a hazard for drivers attempting to get home.

Law enforcement agencies worked more than 30 wrecks — only four with reported injuries — in Baton Rouge from about 4 p.m. to 6:30 p.m., according to the city-parish’s traffic incident list. The agencies were also handling numerous reports of traffic congestion and stalled vehicles.

Emergency Medical Services also responded to a six-car pileup on Interstate 10 near College Drive that snarled rush hour traffic about 5:30 p.m., spokesman Mark Olson said. Traffic lights were out on parts of Flannery Road and Florida Boulevard and water covered the road off South Choctaw Drive near Flannery Road and Florida Boulevard.

The East Baton Rouge Parish Sheriff’s Office was inundated with calls about downed trees and weather-related traffic accidents, spokeswoman Casey Rayborn Hicks said. A power line was down on a school bus for about 40 minutes.

Handicapped child trapped
Firefighters were called after a tree fell on a house in the 2600 block of Beech Street, trapping a handicapped child inside about 5:30 p.m., Baton Rouge Fire Department spokesman Robert Combs said.

The Fire Department was able to remove enough branches to free the trapped child, Combs said. No injuries were reported.

At the request of Mayor Kip Holden, the East Baton Rouge Library system closed all 13 of its locations because of the severe weather, according to a news release issued by Claire Delaune, the library’s head of public relations. The libraries will reopen this morning at their regular time.

More than 18,000 Entergy customers in East Baton Rouge Parish and Denham Springs were without power at the storm’s peak, said Jeff Holeman, regional customer service manager for the company. At 8:15 p.m., 6,016 customers were still without power in East Baton Rouge Parish and 8,023 customers in Denham Springs.

DEMCO had 25,000 customers without power at 9 p.m., down from 40,000 at 6 p.m., spokesman Brent Bradley said. Of those, 14,000 were in Livingston Parish, 9,000 in East Baton Rouge and 2,000 in the Felicianas and in Tangipahoa, Ascension and St. Helena parishes.

Advocate staff writers Jeremy Harper, James Minton and Bob Anderson contributed to this report.

Current radar .. it's sweeping through northwest Florida, spawning tornadoes as it goes...

South LA, MS

The storms came through South Louisiana and Mississippi this morning. We caught quite a bit of it here in southwest MS with some trees down and power out for several hours.

I think the weather has just been plain weird lately.

Best regards
Doc

Wish I could see how my ex-house in Prairieville is holding up.

bw said:

Wish I could see how my ex-house in Prairieville is holding up.

Click to expand...

I have a dear friend in Prarieville. PM your address and I can get her to check on it in the morning if you'd like.

We were lucky here in SW LA as the majority of the really intense storms were north of us. Although my roof is leaking like a sieve in the livingroom it passed us quickly this morning and the remainder of the day was nice for the most part. Doc was right, this weather has been very wierd this year.