The eye of Hurricane Sally is expected to move over the edges of St. Bernard and Plaquemines parishes. St. Bernard Homeland Security and Emergency Preparedness Director John Rahaim says they could see a seven to eleven-foot storm surge, which will flood property outside of the levee system.
“Mainly it’s our fishing camps, a lot of people live out there who fish for a living, they don’t stay there permanently, there’s a handful that come inside the levee system when we do have something like this,” said Rahaim.
Rahaim says they are not anticipating any flooding inside their levee system unless they get a heavy downpour where two to three inches fall in an hour.
Orleans Parish Homeland Security and Emergency Preparedness Director Collin Arnold says they are encouraged that the forecast calls for the center of the storm to stay east of New Orleans, but it’s not good that the storm is moving slowly.
“It could also mean that we could have the same impacts that the weather service is already talking about, which is a lot fo rain, so heavy rain, high winds and then the storm surge is already starting to occur,” said Arnold.
The area is under a flash flood watch until Thursday morning. New Orleans Mayor LaToya Cantrell says all 99 of their drainage pumps are ready to respond and can handle up to one inch of rain per hour.
“Anything above that we are out of our ability to handle it at the 100% magnitude we would like,” said Cantrell.
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