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Storm Barry makes landfall, crashing through Louisiana And Mississippi

US Materials 14 July 2019 06:18 (UTC +04:00)
Dubbed "Hurricane Barry", a category 1 hurricane reaching up to 75 mph (120 km/h) winds made landfall around 1pm on Saturday and is sweeping across Louisiana
Storm Barry makes landfall, crashing through Louisiana And Mississippi

Dubbed "Hurricane Barry", a category 1 hurricane reaching up to 75 mph (120 km/h) winds made landfall around 1pm on Saturday and is sweeping across Louisiana, Trend reports citing Spuntik.

As the storm began with overnight showers and significant winds, some motorists still managed to brave the weather in spite of warnings of 20 inches (50 centimetres) of rain.

Upon landfall, it was significantly weaker than expected and reduced to a tropical storm, but still resulted in flooding throughout the coast along the Gulf of Mexico.

Around 10 am, the storm was approximately 50 miles (80 km) away from the US coast.

Powerful winds toppling power lines, and 'life-threatening' flooding soon followed throughout the day.

The impact was first felt in Morgan City near New Orleans, among warnings of storms hitting cities on the coast followed by tornadoes in neighbouring Mississippi.

​New Orleans airport also saw state-wide cancellations of all major flights in and out of the city on Saturday and has now reported that Barry will leave 2 ft (60 cm) of rain over the period of the next 2 days.

Barry is the first hurricane to hit the US mainland in 2019 during the Atlantic hurricane season. It is not, however, the first tropical storm of year, as Tropical Storm Andrea hit the Atlantic in May.

At least 1 hurricane has hit the US for 4 consecutive years and the Mississippi river has reached the highest point it has ever been during a storm of this size, as reported by ABC.

However, authorities have said that the Mississippi River is unlikely to flood over the levees protecting the city of New Orleans.

Ken Graham, the director of the National Hurricane Center, used Facebook Live to broadcast the storm, pointing to a large screen where a huge swirling mass of airborne water was projected while declaring that the storm was "off the chart".

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