The tropical storm Barry is approaching the coast of Louisiana and is expected to bring with a monumental amount of rain. Although the communities in the area are already expecting to see the worst amount of rainfall and have focused their efforts on emergency preparations. The difference this time is that the tropical storm Barry will be pushing farther inland whose effects could last for a week. Communities will not consider it as just another storm, but it will bring about historical flooding along the Mississippi River.
"Everything is just running very high right now," said Darone Jones, the operations manager for the National Water Center in Tuscaloosa, Ala. 'The rain this tropical storm brings will only exacerbate the situation."
Barry is expected to drop about two feet of rain in some areas in Southern Louisiana. The combination of the amount of rainfall, high water levels of the Mississippi River, as well as the storm surge would likely cause major flooding across the region. The river levels in New Orleans are expected to stay within the capacity to help keep the communities and most of the population safe.
However, as the storm is expected to move up north and it will be taking the rain and flood risk with it. The rain around the Eastern Portion will definitely have the Mississippi River as its basin. The river and its tributaries have been flooded for months and it looks like the waters are coming to destroy more. It is not just about the heavy rains, but it is also about the melting of the snow caps and the ever-changing climate in the area due to global warming.
And because spring has been rather wet this time, the river has a very limited capacity to absorb four to ten inches of rain that is expected to fall with the storm coming in. Some spots may experience lighter rain, but it general, it brings with it the amount of water that the river may not have enough space for. This is where it brings in the great flooding that is expected to leave the area devastated.
The heavy rains that are expected to fall in the area can leave a lot of communities with great concern. "The water has nowhere to go," said Lara Pagano, a meteorologist from the National Weather Service's (NWS) Weather Prediction Center. The expected monster floods have left the local government and its people to prepare for much worse. The experts are watching the rainfall before it becomes an issue of concern.
