New Orleans holding up under Tropical Storm Lee

Sun Sep 4, 2011 9:28pm GMT

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By Kathy Finn

NEW ORLEANS (Reuters) - Tropical Storm Lee crawled onto southern Louisiana's coast on Sunday as New Orleans' flood defences appeared to pass one of their biggest tests since Hurricane Katrina devastated the city in 2005.

The National Hurricane Centre said Lee's centre was about 110 miles (177 km) west-northwest of New Orleans, with maximum sustained winds of 45 mph (72 kph) at around 2 p.m. EDT (1800 GMT), and tropical storm-force winds extending 275 miles (445 km). The storm picked up speed and was moving at 8 mph (12 kph).

Winds were expected to weaken gradually in the next couple of days and up to 20 inches (51 cm) of rain was expected to fall on southeast Louisiana, the Miami-based centre said.

The storm has temporarily shut over 60 percent of offshore oil production.

In New Orleans the storm recalled Hurricane Katrina, which flooded 80 percent of the city, killed 1,500 people and caused more than $80 billion in damage to the tourist destination. Lee has dropped nearly 11 inches (28 cm) of rain on New Orleans since it developed late last week.

Half the city lies below sea level and is protected by a system of levees and flood gates.

Some street flooding was reported, but the city's massive pumping system kept ahead of the volume and diverted the waters into Lake Pontchartrain.

"There's not a whole lot of flooding anywhere, so things are OK," said Jerry Sneed, deputy mayor of public safety. "We're ready for the next round." Continued...

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Water floods a street and park as Tropical Storm Lee slowly makes landfall in Lafitte, Louisiana September 4, 2011. REUTERS/Dan Anderson

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