New Orleans is not out of the woods despite Hurricane Laura’s forecast shifting farther west to the Louisiana-Texas state line.
“Yesterday, while Laura was a tropical storm 210 miles south of Key West they had 60 to 70 mph wind. So, obviously when they talk about being on the east side of the storm and 150 to 200 mile range that puts us in that distinct possibility of having tropical force storm winds and heavy rain starting, potentially, some point tonight, but certainly tomorrow,” said Director of Homeland Security & Emergency Preparedness for New Orleans, Collin Arnold during Tuesday’s media conference.
Arnold says although the rate of rainfall on the city is an issue, tropical storm force winds are the biggest concern.
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“At this point about, 20 to 40 percent change of tropical force winds at some point during this event, starting realistically tomorrow morning but potentially overnight,” said Arnold.
Arnold says forecasters predict Laura will dump 2 to 3 inches of rain on the New Orleans.
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“Once you get 6 to 8 inches per hour rainfall rate for 15-20 minutes you are going to get street flooding in the city of New Orleans,” said Arnold. “While that is not predicted right now, they don’t have a whole lot of confidence in what the impacts will be for the New Orleans area.”
The outer bands of strong wind and heavy rain is a concern for New Orleans.
“This storm is a major hurricane at least a category 3 upon landfall, and we are in that same range that I saw with Cristobal and Marco of getting those outer eastern, that upper right quadrant bands of weather. So that is why I think vigilance is the key right now, we need to get through Thursday,” said Arnold.
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