The National Hurricane Center on Wednesday said that Harvey will be back on land after coming ashore earlier just west of Cameron, Louisiana. The tropical storm is expected to weaken and continue to the north.
Harvey is expected to drop substantial amounts of rain on Louisiana before moving on to Arkansas, Tennessee and parts of Missouri, which could also see flooding.
The storm returned to land about eight kilometres west of Cameron with maximum sustained winds of 72 kph.
Center meteorologist Dennis Feltgen said on Tuesday that when Harvey came back to shore, “it’s the end of the beginning.”
Feltgen said there’s still a lot of residents in multiple states “who are going to feel the impacts of the storm.”
Western Louisiana residents braced for more wind and water as tropical storm Harvey headed their way after dumping record rainfall on Texas.
National Weather Service meteorologists said officials expect Harvey to make another landfall near the two states’ border after hitting Texas and meandering back into the Gulf of Mexico.
Forecasters said another 13 to 25 centimetres of rain could fall in western Louisiana. Meteorologist Roger Erickson warned that some coastal rivers will not be able to drain rains effectively because Harvey’s winds have pushed in storm surge, aggravating flooding in areas already drenched by more than 51 centimetres of rain.
Cameron Parish’s Office of Emergency Preparedness said that a curfew is in effect until the threat has passed.
Harvey first made landfall on Friday in Texas as a Category Four hurricane. President Donald Trump flew into storm-ravaged Texas on Tuesday.
Four days after Harvey slammed onshore, turning roads to rivers in America’s fourth-largest city, emergency crews are still racing to reach hundreds of stranded people in a massive round-the-clock rescue operation.
Hurricane Harvey back ashore, hits Louisiana
