Hurricane Barry has made landfall in Louisiana and weakened to a tropical storm, after a westward shift that appeared to spare low-lying New Orleans from the massive flooding feared earlier this week.
The National Hurricane Center says the storm slowed as it came ashore near Intracoastal City, Louisiana on Saturday, with maximum sustained winds of 115 kilometres per hour.
“Weakening is expected as Barry moves farther inland, and it is forecast to weaken to a tropical depression on Sunday,” the centre said.
The storm could still bring dangerous rainfall flooding and storm surges to coastal regions southwest of New Orleans and to Baton Rouge and Lafayette.
But the threat of major flooding from the historically high Mississippi River overtopping levees appeared to have passed.
The river crested on Friday night at just under 5.18 metres in New Orleans, the National Weather Service said.
It was much lower than a prediction of 6.1m earlier this week, which would have approached the height of the levees.
The river was expected to surge again on Monday at about 5.18m, up slightly because of the expected rains, the weather service said.
The “lopsided” nature of the storm meant most of the rain was expected after landfall and its slow speed increased the risk of flooding.
Forecasters said life-threatening, significant flash flooding and river flooding will become increasingly likely later on Saturday and overnight, especially across portions of south-central and southeast Louisiana into Mississippi.
-with AAP
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