The Big Soggy: Lee Dumps a Foot of Rain on New Orleans
Lee dumped more than a foot of rain in New Orleans and
spun off tornadoes elsewhere Sunday as its center came
ashore in a slow crawl north that raised fears of inland
flash flooding in the Deep South and beyond.
The massive weather system spent most of the day as a
tropical storm but weakened late in the evening to a tropical depression
with maximum sustained winds of 35 mph (55 kph). While the change
reflected its diminishing wind speeds, forecasters say heavy rain and
flooding remain a threat.
Areas of Alabama, Louisiana and Mississippi near the coast reported
scattered wind damage and flooding, but evacuations appeared to be
in the hundreds rather than the thousands and New Orleans’ levees
were doing their job just over six years after Hurricane Katrina swamped the city.
National Hurricane Center specialist Robbie Berg said Lee’s flash flood threat
could be more severe as the rain moves from the flatter Gulf region into
the rugged Appalachians.
Closer to the Gulf, the water is “just going to sit there a couple of days,”
he said. “Up in the Appalachians you get more threat of flash floods
— so that’s very similar to some of the stuff we saw in Vermont.”
Vermont is still cleaning up and digging out dozens of communities
that were damaged and isolated last week when heavy rain from
Tropical Storm Irene quickly flooded mountain rivers.
