Tropical Storm Karen weakened Saturday as it approaches the central Gulf Coast, but forecasters are still expecting it to bring significant rain and potential flooding to low-lying areas.
Meteorologist David Bernard of CBS station WFOR in Miami reported on "CBS This Morning: Saturday" that, as of Saturday morning, Karen is a minimal tropical storm, with winds of 40 mph, and whether it even retains its status as a tropical storm remains to be seen.
The projected path of Tropical Storm Karen, October 5, 2013.
/ CBS News
At 8 a.m. ET it was 155 miles south of Morgan City, La., and is now speeding up a bit, moving to the north at 10 mph.
A tropical storm warning is in effect from Morgan City to the mouth of the Pearl River.
A tropical storm watch is in effects for metropolitan New Orleans, Lake Maurepas, Lake Pontchartrain, and from east of the mouth of the Pearl River to Indiana Pass, Fla. A hurricane watch was dropped Friday afternoon.
Forecasters expect the center of Karen to be near the southeast Louisiana coast on Saturday night, when they say there is a slight chance of strengthening.
The storm is expected to track northeast Saturday and Sunday, into the southeastern U.S.
"That's going to mean there's at least a chance of tropical force winds, the greatest chance along the southern Louisiana coast during the day today and into tonight, and lower chances as the storm weakens toward Mobile and Pensacola," Bernard said.
Hurricane Tracking Sector (VIS) (NOAA)
In what had been a slow hurricane season, Karen would be the second named storm to make landfall in the U.S. -- the first since Tropical Storm Andrea hit Florida in June.
Pickups hauling boat trailers and flatbed trucks laden with crab traps exited vulnerable, low-lying areas of southeast Louisiana on Friday.
Also, Alabama joined Louisiana, Mississippi and Florida in declaring a state of emergency. The Federal Emergency Management Agency and Interior Department recalled workers, furloughed because of the government shutdown, to deal with the storm and help state and local agencies.
C.J. Johnson pulls a shrimp boat out of the water in preparation for the arrival of Tropical Storm Karen, at Myrtle Grove Marina in Plaquemines Parish, La., Friday, Oct. 4, 2013.
/ AP Photo/Gerald Herbert
Forecasters said late Friday that Karen was expected to dump 1 to 3 inches of rain on the central Gulf Coast and southeastern United States by Monday night, less than originally predicted, with up to 6 inches in isolated parts.
A westward tick in the earlier forecast tracks prompted officials in Plaquemines Parish, La., an area inundated last year by slow-moving Hurricane Isaac in 2012, to order mandatory evacuations, mostly on the east bank of the Mississippi River. The parish, home to oil field service businesses and fishing marinas, juts out into the Gulf of Mexico from the state's southeastern tip.
"The jog to the west has got us concerned that wind will be piling water on the east bank levees," said Guy Laigast, head of emergency operations in the parish. Overtopping was not expected, but the evacuations were ordered as a precaution, he said.
Evacuations also were ordered on Grand Isle, a barrier island community where the only route out is a single flood-prone highway, and in coastal Lafourche Parish.
Traffic at the mouth of the Mississippi River was stopped Friday morning in advance of the storm, and passengers aboard two Carnival Cruise ships bound for weekend arrivals in New Orleans were told they may not arrive until Monday.
1/2
0 komentar:
Posting Komentar