Top Stories: Hurricane Francine Coverage

hurricane Francine came through Louisiana as a category 2 storm leaving behind down trees road debris flooding and power outages all of us here at WWL Louisiana we're with you through every moment both during and after the store as we work to provide you with the latest information in this week's top stories we highlight some of the stories we've covered during a marathon of continuous live team coverage good afternoon it is 5:00 thank you for joining us as we continue our coverage of hurricane Francine which has just made landfall South Southwest of Morgan City in tabone Parish we're taking a live look now from the leville to whole Plaza here where we we know that it has been down that area very windy very rainy and lots of storm surge absolutely there's some Waters you can see all along that bridge in that area and uh it has been rocking and rolling all through lefou and tabone over the last hour hour and a half the winds have been picking up they're seeing uh power outages again uh as the storm moves up up up through Southeast Louisiana I mean it really um is starting to feel the worst of it um our communities that are farther toward uh Metropolitan New Orleans and then up toward the NorthShore brace yourselves cuz it's coming yeah we are now in the thick of it at least for the next few hours this is when we're going to feel the brunt of those impacts we've been seeing the rain and the wind all day long but we've really started to see it intensify over about the last hour and a half now yeah absolutely making landfall is a category 2 hurricane um I need to verify that with Chris Category 2 hurricane it made landfall as as a category 2 storm okay um so we were expecting a one for for quite some time then now it has turned to a two so um you know that's where we are that's what's going in the history books yes and our meteorologists have been keeping a very close eye on the developments any strengthening the path all of the above we're going to head over right now to meteorologist Alexa trisler with the latest update Alexa yes so it has officially made landfall in tabone Parish about 30 miles South Southwest of Morgan City and now that it's moving Inland the worst of the impacts will be spreading Inland for terone Paris for our Bayou parishes and River Parishes we'll be seeing the worst of the weather over the next couple of hours now that the eye is making landfall it has made landfall we'll continue to see those hurricane force winds spread over lower tabone Parish over the next couple of hours H to Tibido seeing that Heavy Rain there is a flash flood warning in effect for H so now is the time of course you don't want to go outside exploring to see what's happening this is when you want to stay indoors and just wait this thing out as we get through the worst of the weather that's going to continue to happen throughout the rest of the evening into tonight we'll kind of look across the area and see where those rain bands are setting up the whole entire sou Le Louisiana south Mississippi here seeing those heavy downpours pushing in across the area so it it was surprising yes it did increase to a category 2 strength at landfall but now as it is moving inward even though we're seeing the worst of the impacts as it moves Inland over land it will weaken as we go throughout the rest of tonight but still expecting the worst of the impacts happening now and then we'll see those immediately improving conditions going into the overnight hour so the roughest of the rain and the winds happening and The Surge happening right now so this is when you want to wait it out and hopefully we don't lose power uh across too many spots but it is certainly a possibility we could see some power outages the rest of tonight we've got those heavier bands pushing in for the NorthShore from Sidell to Covington for tangoa Parish Washington Parish south Mississippi heavy downpours coming into Hancock County there is a little bit of a break in the rain for parts of the Southshore so St Bernard and plaman seeing a break in the rain but it just comes and goes it es and flows with the heaviest of the showers but the strongest of the the convection or the storms really focused in that eyewall from Tibido to H to gallano that's where the strongest of the Winds and the heaviest of the downpours and the strongest of those um tropical storm forest and hurricane force winds are happening right in that eyewall and right as the eye moves on Shore this is where the worst of the weather is happening for our Coastal Bayou parishes and then those impacts will be spreading northeastward so it's possible that this kind of wobbles a little bit to the East and and moves in this North North easterly Direction bringing the strongest of the Winds over our River Parishes heading into this evening so this is what we have actually a new flash flood warning in effect for lefou Parish because this is just some very heavy rain with this eyewall moving in really heavy downpour so from gallano to Tibido extremely heavy rain coming in right now so flooded roadways certainly happening across our Bayou perishes at this point so heavy downpours continuing to see this flash flooding a possibility over the next couple of hours so unfortunately that's what we have going into right now into tonight the worst of the weather is here but at least we'll be getting it over with I know by the overnight hours this will be basically out of here so at least we're getting into the worst of the weather now as that eyewall has made it on Shore the eye has made landfall in tabone Parish just South Southwest of Morgan City by about 30 miles so the ey has made it on Shore landfall has happened in tabone Parish so we just have to wait it out and get through these heavy heavy bands get through the strong winds and then overnight tonight we'll be seeing quieter weather coming in we've been talking about how it kind of blossomed and strengthened up right before it made landfall and you can see that depicted very well on our satellite it looked like you know it was going to maintain itself as a cat one and then boom those storms really started to fire up right before we got to landfall but as it moves over land that weakening will will start to take shape later this evening don't want to downplay the impacts that we're seeing now because we are getting the heavy rain and the very strong winds across the area and they'll continue into tonight but the dry air that we've been talking about is going to continue to wrap around it and that's why some of that heaviest of the rain is starting to show up on the northern and western side of the system now so let's look at those wind gusts happening across the area because the winds are really picking up especially offshore so our offshore oil rigs that are a little bit higher off the ground by like 100 feet are really seeing the highest wind gust they're a little bit elevated yeah sorry someone's talking to in my ear could you say that again sorry oh what are we showing now okay okay we're gonna okay we're gonna get Chris over here now but yeah we're taking a live look where are we looking at right now this is showan show van okay yeah seeing the heaviest of the the impacts happening across our Coastal spots now so are you are you popping in yeah we're this is TV folks yes the show van camera down toward where the storm is now making landfall just showing the inundation of the area this is a camera we have been showing you since earlier this morning so P Malone was showing this camera still had pretty dry conditions but steadily that storm surge is moving Inland and will continue to do so again as we had talked to Jamie Rome a little while ago from the Hurricane Center he said some areas will begin seeing improvements with the storm surge levels fairly shortly and then others it will still be a bit ongoing again we have a very large Coastline all of the coastline is being impacted by the storm surge some areas may start to improve certainly out toward Vermillion Cameron Parish maybe Western St Mary Parish will'll start to see improving conditions however for tabone lefo Jefferson plans we have the storm surge still moving in and really it won't be until the Storm Center is a bit farther to the north and we then have that wind direction change as Alexa had mentioned we did officially as of the 5:00 advisory have land fall of Francine it will go down in the record books as a category to one thing and thing that you know great respect for the folks at the Hurricane Center they do amazing work forecast models are impeccable with their forecast compared to other models however it is a little and this is something that even jimie kind of alluded to as well it does tend to be a little misleading when you have that what seems to be a sudden jump in those winds and that increase in the category so we went from 90 mph winds those had been maintained since last night all day today and then suddenly it looked like we had this explosion in strength and that just did not happen we did have a little burst of thunderstorms convection that I had mentioned but that really wasn't what was the driving force what was the driving force was not actually a landbased observation when the hurricane Hunters are flying in the storm they are collecting data kind of from their flight level down to the surface they can use algorithms to figure out what their winds are at flight level and kind of figure out what it may be estimated down at the surface now this is usually a fairly accurate estimate but that is where that wind speed of 100 Mil an hour came from not from any of our landbased observations as you can see the storm is only 30 mil away from Morgan City and the winds there 44 miles an hour now I don't want to downplay it too much but I also don't want people too worked up about the category two classification or those Winds of 100 Mil an hour that really doesn't change anything that we are expecting with the impacts throughout the rest of the night and end of the day tomorrow now one thing jimie did mention is that we could see this and you almost watch there's the track Center Line of that track so we are still falling within the cone but what we have seen is notice how the center of the storm is a little bit more on the Eastern side of that track so it has been favoring a or on the western side so it almost looks like it's favoring a little bit more on the East which again would put maybe the brunt of this storm a little bit more over Metro New Orleans here is kind of what had been a little bit more of that well-defined eyewall and that is what is pushing across Tibido right now we were getting the reports from uh Lily Cummings in hom and while she she actually I forgot what the text the last text was I think it was over 40 m an hour uh she was getting of her weather station that we've set up with our mobile forecast Center so we've getting the winds accurately read in h that was within the eyewall So within the eyewall itself and again not to downplay it at all we're only finding sustained winds of 40 plus miles an hour so really just barely at those of a tropical storm certainly some stronger wind gusts but all the reports that we are getting has been the winds have been more tame than what a 100 mph maximum midp speed would kind of make you believe now again I do not want to downplay that at all it is still dangerous to be out on the roads and you definitely do not want to be out in this storm through the rest of the afternoon and into the night tonight so I don't want to downplay but I also want to give you a sense of reality and what is actually happening and that was something I kind of talked a little bit about a moment ago was in yesterday and mon what is today Wednesday yesterday Monday even into the weekend it was more of the forecast is it Wednesday we it is Wednesday yes I don't think anybody here knows we were talking more about the the the forecast where it's it's very much our estimated guesses of what will happen where is the storm going to go kind of analyzing the structure of the storm figuring out what the impacts are going to be at this point I'm not as Reliant upon the models as we've kind of seen the models have a little bit more overestimated what is actually happening in reality and that's why it does help us as meteorologists us as a news organization and then to provide to you why we have people out in the field I know sometimes we're kind of criticized for we're telling you to be inside but then we're sending people out and about we are trying to keep we are keeping them safe but trying to provide you the information that is actually happening so hopefully you're not in hom but you're able to see what is actually going on all right stepping off my soap box for a minute those heavier rain bands and some of the gustier winds are certainly moving in the direction of New Orleans we don't have much longer before we get into some of these more intense rains flash flood warnings are rampant with those bands moving through so that is what we can expect over the course of the next several hours now at the moment a little bit of a break from the more intense rains kind of a steady rain across the area and then these little pockets of some brief heavy downpours but boy the rain moves very very quickly and that has been the one thing that's going to work in our favor is just how fast the rain is pushing through and how fast this storm is going to move out of Southeast Louisiana rain on the North Shore has become a little bit more intense over the last hour or two we're getting a a bit more of those pockets of the moderate to heavy rainfall and that is going to continue throughout the rest of the evening and night visible satellite doesn't really give us a clear picture was hoping we see a little bit more of a break from those clouds with that drier air we can switch over to our infrared and you don't see the intense storms offshore so what we're going to be watching through the rest of this evening is going to be what rain is south of Southeast Louisiana what the intensity of those storms are because that is really what's going to be moving over most of the area but we also have had that little burst of convection right before the 4:00 advisory it looks like that may be kind of falling apart a bit and hopefully now with the storm on land we should start to see further weakening of the storm although it is moving so quickly that is not going to really happen very very rapidly and something else to note one thing I had done was when the 5:00 haded came out I immediately went to Google Earth typed in the coordinates to see where exactly that Center Point was and it was Inland over tabone Parish so it made landfall however if you were to go to Google Earth and type in those coordinates of where the storm is right now it's not land it's Marsh so it is that brown ocean effect which means it's still over warm water it is still able to kind of generate a bit of energy so if you're hoping for of it to rapidly weaken that's not going to happen but as I've said thankfully those maximum winds first off I don't think there's going to be anyone that finds 100 m hour winds anywhere and second thankfully that Windfield is very very small and sometimes kind of misleading when we're talking about these storms and sometimes uh seemingly contradictory we talk about the winds we talk about everything else and then we say don't mention or don't focus on that don't pay attention to this it is tropical systems are very complicated a lot lot that goes into the impacts a lot that goes into what it could possibly do and there has been discussions I've mentioned that with Jamie Rome about do we actually have other scales aside from the saffer Simpson scale which just takes into account those maximum winds there had been discussions should there be a scale for rain should there be a scale for wind and storm surge and other uh uh flooding on the coast flooding from Inland rainfall it'd be too complicated so the best that we have is the saffr Simpson scale to kind of Base it on those winds but as Jamie also mentioned that 100 mph win is one observation at one point in the storm it is not a very good representative of the entirety of the storm believe me there have been other category two storms with Winds of 100 Mil hour that were far more dangerous and far more powerful than hurricane Francine is and that is certainly good news to us as the storm is moving Inland radar we're going to continue with the intense but notice there isn't a great deal even South so we may get into some breaks if that drier air is playing the role that we have been talking about and hoping would occur wind sustained at Morgan City 52 mil an hour now it is inching closer at the 4:00 advisory or excuse me at the 5:00 advisory it was only a 50 it's only 30 miles away so last 15 minutes it is already moved another 17 miles so it is a little closer to Morgan City right now but winds there 52 miles an hour so we're just in the kind of mid low to mid tropical storm range from a category 2 hurricane that's why those 100 mile per hour winds are a little bit misleading now we don't officially have data in h but we have Lily Cummings that can provide the hom data for us and if she's listening to me maybe she can text me a little bit uh what the winds are doing there note how the winds have been gusting now to 40 plus miles an hour over the metro area so we are kind of getting the uh nearing that um kind of now broadening out Northeastern Eye wall of Francine is inching a little bit closer to the metro area so sustained winds have say roughly about 30 mil an hour but gusting to 40 plus miles an hour and those winds will be spreading farther to the NorthShore really not too much longer from now as the storm will continue to pick up a little bit of that forward speed now based upon the models notice this is what the model thinks the winds are doing right now 30 to near 40 m an hour so again we'll go back in time to in case you forgot we're looking at about 30 m an hour with gust up to about 40 m an hour so that's what's happening right now 30 it's kind of maybe overestimating the numbers a little bit so keep that in mind when you look at these numbers 40 to 50 mph and gusting 60 to even 80 miles an hour I do think those are more on the high end of a forecast if it was me I would say we're probably looking at 40 plus mph maybe 40 to 50 as a safe bet for the sustained winds over the metro area in the next few hours so this is 8:00 so this is only in 3 hours from now and gusting I would say 60 to 70 I think 80 mph wind gust is very very much on the high end but a lot of it will U be determined by just how close the center and that eyewall is able to get to Metro New Orleans Jamie mentioned that fact that it could be a little bit closer and even if it is just off to our West we're still on some of the strongest winds with that eyewall on the northeastern and then Eastern side of it as it continues to move farther north those those winds spread farther north onto the NorthShore and by overnight tonight after midnight winds will immediately start to diminish and changing direction and a direction that would favor pushing all of that water storm surge water out of the lake away from the coast and we will start to immediately start to see we will immediately see improving conditions a lot of these totals are probably being experienced right now from Morgan City down toward cadry as the storm is moving Inland so we'll kind of take a look at some of the water levels coming up here in a bit but 3 to 6 foot is what was anticipated and probably nearing that right now now as far as areas outside or excuse me not outside but east of the mouth of the river and into the lake we're probably not quite to the highest points just yet that will likely Peak later this e well I should say more like later tonight and through the overnight as the Storm Center is a little bit closer to the lake and to the NorthShore so probably starting to see improving conditions in the next couple of hours along our Coastline and then then as you go farther north it may take a little bit later into the night for conditions to start improving there wave heights estimated offshore are running 20 to 30 feet and that's a very very rough estimate that's not storm surge those are the wave heights but even notice how the storm itself would is a fairly uh small and and as far as tropical systems go a fairly weaker storm it's you know again just at a a don't want to say just it is only don't want to say only it is at the low end of our scale and again those Winds of 100 mph are fairly isolated but note what the winds the excuse me wave heights you're doing across most of the gulf Basin is that they have been kicked up by Francine which is a fairly little storm one thing that we have also been talking about and thankfully haven't seen a ton of are the threat for those weak short-lived tornadoes that threat will be ongoing as we go throughout the rest of this afternoon and into the evening as far as where the heaviest of the rainfall will occur I do believe with that wind year and kind of the drier air moving in we may see drying conditions as soon as the latter part of this evening going into the night tonight just looking at radar right now offshore and we'll go back to that radar uh I'm not seeing a great deal of additional storms uh farther south and east of the uh Center of Francine so kind of this is the Let's uh wait for the image to come up here and kind of w wiing out a little bit and scaling over notice there isn't a a great deal it's not like we're looking at another huge swath of rainfall we actually get pockets of heavy rainfall certainly we're not going to be done with the rain but we're also getting a lot of breaks in the rainfall so that really should work in our favor as we go throughout the latter part of the night what with that said we still have some of the heaviest of the rainfall to go that is moving in kind of what has now become a very large eyewall but this is where you're going to find those strongest winds and some of the heavier rainfall and that is moving toward the metro area at this time H Lily getting a little bit of a break at the moment with the eye wall now almost having completely past H but you do find some very intense rain just to your North moving toward tibo right now Morgan City getting under that heavy rain as well D alman's Raceland cut off gallana leville Port fuson kind of what almost looks to be a band is actually the entirety of the eyewall which looks like it has almost expanded out a bit would had been a little bit more Compact and looks like that is kind of spreading out a bit more as we go uh further into the storm making landfall and further moving Inland wanted to also look at what the winds are doing across the area we're taking a look at those a moment ago but just to show you as you kind of get an idea of where the eyewall is what their winds are doing within the eyewall itself gallano was at 17 sustained gusting up to 35 sustained at Gonzalez 36 milph eyewall is kind of right in through here so not quite to kener yet 26 mph winds gusting up to 4130 at Lakefront gusting up to 45 we will likely see those winds increase something to note though about Lakefront Airport is it's a little bit more exposed so you don't have the wind uh moving across land which is what helps to slow the winds down the friction of land uh that's why almost always the winds along the coastline are going to be much much stronger because you don't have that friction with the interaction of land you just have it moving over seemingly smooth water surfaces and then Inland is where you have SL little bit less wind because you have that interaction with the land so Lake Front airport usually has stronger winds compared to surrounding areas Bel Chase right now 22 mph wind sustain or excuse me sustained gusting up to 33 miles an hour so winds are starting to pick up we are getting some of the heavier rainfall moving through at the moment and again officially uh Francine made landfall in southern tabone Parish kind of extreme Southwestern tabone which was about 30 Mi South Southwest of Morgan City it is moving Inland about 17 M hour hopefully that forward speed continues to increase winds have started to pick up here the rainfall will be increasing as well and we will continue to see kind of uh worsening conditions as we go throughout the night but then by early tomorrow morning not long after midnight already improving stay with us we'll be right back six to eight inches of rain fell in in the emergency area Alexa trisler is telling me Jefferson Parish wow that is a very large amount of bra in a very short period of time all way through St John St Charles Orleans kind of that that whole area yeah oh wow okay so that's Alexa that you're hearing uh you know kind of giving us the latest but uh and that explains why these pumps became so overwhelmed in Jefferson Parish especially because we've seen so much flooding there that is where Elanor tone is she's been keeping an eye on things Elanor uh where are you now Deon and ktie now I'm on Clear View Parkway I'm going to step out the way cuz just two blocks from up is the West Napoleon Canal which we know overflow during this during this tropical weather now Straight Ahead Sam's going to show you you can see a car uh basically submerged in the water over here now we can see an energy truck right here now I don't know why this energy truck is here there could be possibly down power lines right here now this tow truck is here waiting to eventually remove this this car from the flood water here we're seeing cars being turned around there was law enforcement out here before getting cars and notifying them that they cannot pass on Clear View right here and as I mentioned just two blocks if Sam if you if you zoom in and you can see those green traffic lights that's where West Napoleon is and right there is the canal that we know over topped as well as the other two major canals in jeffson Parish now right where the drive-thru is and that bank is law enforcement was telling me that is higher ground and then you could possibly get on the other side but there is no way to pass this and as I mentioned there could be possible down power Lin so it's just simply dangerous to cross in this water it also looks very very deep the further you go back and you can see that car right there and like we've been reporting Katie and and Devon we know that we're being told in Jefferson Parish to conserve that water we're being told not to take a shower not to take a bath or run the laundry or have it use your dishwasher because it's possible for the sewage to be backed up and this flood water like we've been mentioning is just sitting here that we're waiting for the pumps to kick in we're waiting for this to be all drained out but right now there's flooding all over Justin Parish everywhere that we have been tonight ladies there has just been flooding and it seems like now the wind is really really picking up we're feeling it it's blowing both of us the rain has thankfully eased off we have a little bit of drizzle we saw some lightning before that lightning has subsided but again the wind out here on Clear View where this car you can see these cars being turned around here no passing because that water is so deep and again possibly have down power lines and we know Katie and Devon that there are so many power outages across the entire Southeast Louisiana as hurricane Francine ripped through earlier today but again thankfully the rain has subsided that torrential downpour that you saw that we were in earlier has subsided there is some sprinkles but the water is pulling out here on Clear View the wind is just picking up you can see the trees blowing you can see traffic light slightly swaying but again as I mentioned the car is being turned around here at Clear View because just two blocks away is West Napoleon Canal which over topped as well as the other two major canals in Jefferson Parish so we're going to continue to monitor this we're going to see if we can move to other locations um to get more information for our viewers get more details to show you the extensive flooding across the parish but again as I mentioned Katie and Devon a lot of flooding here on Clear View in mety again possible down power lines if you're heading this way there's no no way for you to pass you're going to be turned around but so just keep safe keep updated keep your phones alert we saw those fles flood warnings coming through that's why it's so important to keep them near us so we can keep our updates but like I mentioned we're going to continue to travel around the parish to see what else we can bring you an update our viewers but reporting live in mety Elanor tabone WWL Louisiana all right the power outage thank you so much Elanor the power outages there seem to be really compounding the problem and uh it feels like it's going to be a waiting game and I think I think that this is a good time to remind people she keeps saying if you're heading this way do not head any way stay in your house this is not the time to be driving around right uh it is incredibly dangerous to be driving around right now and it puts you at risk it puts emergency responders at risk who are at this time just trying to make sense of what all is going on and get the water away yes pump everything down and get things safe again hopefully we can try and get some some officials on the phone um in just a little bit yes very shortly just to try and get um an upate on uh what is being done to try and alleviate the problem I mean uh I know you know we spoke with council member Scott Walker a little while ago uh to hear from him on it but I don't know if there it's possible to talk to you know their drainage department or somebody who is actively involved in it um to try and get the latest this is kind of a what we were really really hoping was not going to happen with this storm that it would be more mild unfortunately you know we got hit kind of two ways both with the water through the spillway that we're seeing there and then from this uh inundation of rain and frankly some failures of the drainage systems in the two areas pumps going down power problems happening in New Orleans uh you know it has been difficult Jefferson Parish again you know we just spoke with Parish president Cynthia leang she said you know she doesn't necessarily have ears on every part because there are uh number of municipalities in Jefferson Parish one of those one of the biggest is the City of Kenner and the police chief and Kenner uh Kenner police Chief Keith Conley is joining us by phone tonight to give us an update on what happened there uh Chief Conley do we have you yes yes ma'am how are you tonight great we're we're doing okay we're hanging in there um thanks for asking um we wanted to find out what's going on in kener we heard uh from Scott Walker earlier tonight that there were some homes that had trees through them and that there may have been some people rescued from some homes what's the status in Kenner well I can tell you we're still doing our early assessments but Kenna got slammed uh Kenna got over 10 inches of water uh Francine stayed over us for a long period of time just dumping water on us uh we have had flooding from the lake to the river um currently we're we're doing rescue operations uh where we're getting calls of people that have water in their homes and they you know they're scared so we're getting trying to get to them uh we're assisting our local uh our partners and and transport and critical care patients from locations to hospitals um you know we're doing everything we can to get people the help they need um so that is you know that is the situation in kener I'm about to go back out and do some more assessments but we did get a lot of Rise you know Water Rising water um especially after the storm and I know that there's going to be widespread reports of water intrusion in people's homes um vehicles vehicles we have vehicles stalls and stalled and Stranded throughout the the city um so we we we're going to have a a massive cleanup uh in order here in Kenner Chief do you have any indication of how many homes have water in them and how much water has made its way into people's homes our reports are just ankle deep Shin deep things of that nature um just enough to um you know to cause the water damage that that you know they're going to have to have to deal with but um no we I do not have numbers I just have pretty much a windshield survey but it's going to be pretty watch Sprite yeah 2 in or 3 feet you know once you get that water in there it almost doesn't matter yeah um any idea about you you mentioned that you were doing some rescues uh are we talking a lot of rescues like two or three handful um at this to this moment we have 25 rescues that um we're working on um you know throughout the City of Kenner and what areas are we talking about with the greatest amount of water where you're having to go get people out it is all throughout ker from the north all the way to the South wow how much flood water like is it extremely deep I mean is can people walk in it I guess is the question in some areas uh when my officals got out because they had to walk to some of these rescues um just to check on the residents when Vehicles couldn't get down the street um they were were up to their waist in in water um so in some areas they were up to their shins and their knees and it would progressively get worse to their waist and we find it's close to where the drainage canals run uh we feel that the the water might have run over the drainage canals Banks and you know flooded the uh flooded the city in that nature okay so it's the backups in the drainage system there that we're hearing about similar to what is happening in New Orleans I mean uh in the rest of Jefferson Parish in mety and other places yeah I I don't know what what's going on outside of kener but that would be consistent with with that information anybody injured anybody hurt I don't have any reports of any injuries uh but we you know we're still assessing the the the assistance that we're given to the EMS and paramedics are more Cardiac Care events um pregnancy related issues things of that nature at this time okay well that is a relief hopefully those people are getting taken where they need to go into the hospitals uh that hopefully have power and access to them uh given the the amount of water that's everywhere out there um anything else that you want to let people know I mean what can we let people know for you um as we move through this this emergency situation overnight I'll let people know just to be patient that you know all your First Responders police uh Fire EMS they're out in the field doing the best they can I'm overwhelmed I know that we're handling you know uh any calls that we get the best we can we're getting to the ones that you know certainly we're human uh life uh you know is is is in danger uh you know we're prioritizing the calls but we're not making um priorities out of some of the calls I know we have vehicles going through flooded streets and neighborhoods so we're going to ask people not to do that we're going to have work with the city to set up barricades and uh to prevent that from happening but we have to take care of some of these critical calls first as we prioritize them so if if people can just stay patient we're here we over have over 150 people um that have been called out and full activation and we're working around the clock to to take care of our citizens here in kener yeah there is no greater priority than human life so that is good to hear that that is top of mind uh Keith uh Chief Conley thank you so much for being with us tonight um we appreciate that update and we'll check back in with you as this emergency continues to unfold one of our reporters Alyssa Curtis um she's following um as you see here some flooding yeah looks like she's talking to people there who are dealing with this uh Alyssa can you hear us we see you standing there in some water there looks like you're in a home I can hear you guys can you hear me yes we can all right so we are on pulk Street in Lake View and um we rushed over here we're just a few blocks from Canal and uh two blocks from Canal and the residents here um Keith and Desiree are just showing us the extent of the flooding of this house um the basement is just absolutely flooded I have Keith and Desiree with me here today um Keith I think you're you're speaking with us today what has been going on tell me just a little bit of like a timeline and explanation of the night um yes everything um was under control as far as the street flooding until it looked like the um the eyewall based on the last thing I could see on my phone before we lost um electricity right when that eyewall was over us and it started um raining and and the wind started blowing you know harder then um I noticed that the water on the street started to come up and the manhole in front of the house started to pop off from the pressure um and then you know shortly after that um I'd put up sandbags by the back door and um put put another um barrier on the back door to try and block the water but it bre it it it came up so fast so high that it just overtopped the sandbags and the um and the barrier that I put up you know so it it just started seeping in we tried to mitigate with towels and you know even scooping water into pots and whatnot we're just in shock we've done everything right we have a sump pump we just put in they just did a major major major drainage project outside the guys were great who did the project they um they just finished and they told us oh yeah this should help with flooding you know and we're absolutely stunned that this has even happened again again we put in a stmp pump we have the generator hit we did everything right well once we lost um electricity then the sump pump you know had no power and um you know and it it seemed like the the pumps on the streets stopped working because the water stopped obviously being being pulled down I'm gonna um ask uh my photographer Robin to come down I'm going to ask you guys to come with me so this is um just so we can show a little bit better Fe um we are in kind of like a lower level a little bit a street level it's a street level slab it's it's a slab it's a slab yes so we're I'm going to ask Robin to show um you can just kind of get all the water here you can see that they tried to put uh put the water in some pots to try to to mitigate this and we've already uh filled up the kitchen sink we filled up the bathroom sink we filled up the bathtub upstairs a big cloth wood tub we filled up the second bathtub we were doing everything in our power just to bring the water level down it was kind of pointless yeah this is um at least an inch or more more it was up to it was up to the top of the baseboard if you turn around and look it was over the bottom step this entire downstairs was up about 8 in 6 to 8 in 6 to 8 Ines are saying that this water here at uh the street level of of their home was at right now and um in a newly r ated house that's the other thing this house they just renovated it and it looks beautiful but now all of this water in here is is not do doing it justice at all um you guys mentioned that there was some some sewer water as well if you turn if you come this way turn right down that hole go into the bathroom on the left the shower was bubbling up the toilet was bubbling up and this entire all of this water actually at this point is sewer water yes isn't that lovely I don't know if I would use that word to to explain it but yeah this is not what you want to see especially um like they said in a newly renovated home there's definitely um have my husband's office he works for the it's also inundated with water yeah as you can tell a very very frustrating situation here um this is just just not good especially as a homeowner you you would hope that this level of flooding does not get to this point um and now this is what what they're left with unfortunately again we're on pulk Street in the lake view area um just off of canal pulk and Memphis and we we were outside and there was some Street flooding um not just on this street but around in the air the whole area the whole neighborhood it seems like some of it has since gone down um some of it in in the home has gone down according to the home owners here they're saying saying again that it was up over the baseboards um they're estimating about 8 in um it has gone down thankfully but again this is now just standing water sitting water not going anywhere um they're saying there's sewer water in here as well they just renovated this home um not good so again they want answers from sewage and waterboard I know we've been trying to get answers from sewage and waterboard um I we're just at a we're at a loss yeah when you have homeowners who are doing everything right everything in their power and everything right and this happens again so it it's flooded before but we're expected to pay our taxes ID our extreme high taxes on time we're expected to pay our insurance extreme insurance rates and this is our reward what are we to do as homeowners any of us not just me but across the city what are we to do when you do everything right what's left no you're exactly right I can I can sense the frustration I understand the frustration this is not what you want um during during a storm during a hurricane um again there's right now an inch an inch and a half of water but they're saying it it's gone down significantly but I don't know if it's going down any more at least not right now it looks right now to be a little bit of a standing water you can see um their their Furniture they've tried to place their furniture on top of other Furniture to kind of it seems like save what you can down here um you know what sheetrock still has to be pulled up floors have to be it's a it's a nightmare whether you have an inch of water or whether you have six Ines of water which is what we had we had water topping that bottom step that leads into the kitchen the renovation is the same the mitigation is the same you guys you can hear I I can sense the frustration I'm sure um anyone watching can sense the frustration and we can see why you guys are frustrated this is again just uh not what you want they just renovated this home and they they have sandbags out I'm looking at the sandbags and the towels and all the stuff to try and um stop the the water from from coming in and this is just not good we pulled up all the towels we had every towel that we owned in on the floor trying to absorb the water at some point we realized that the the weight of the towels was probably making the water level rise so we rung out the towels threw them in the kitchen sink it's it's just another nightmare yeah guys um I I'm in I'm in shock um I know they're in shock you can see there um the mitigation efforts that they that they tried to to deploy here and it doesn't seem to have worked so um I know they want answers um of what is going on on behalf of our of us and behalf of everybody in the metropolitan area who's going through this same nightmare over and over and over again we're sick of it we're tired of it and we need our government our local government to give us answers as to why this is happening do this why do we have to endure this every single time it rains yeah guys this is um I I'm in shock um there there's a lot of water here so um yeah not just not a good a good situation here over on pulk Street the street flooding um again has seemed to to uh be mitigated a little bit it seems to have gone down they're saying that it used to be a lake um yep now now it's going out a little bit now that we we open the doors here and he he pulled the sand bags out you you know sandbags you actually starting to go you kind of put the sandbags in to prevent the water from coming in and now they have to take the sandbags out to get the water out so it's a little bit of a of a backward situation here um from what you're really used to during a storm so um we need our city government to give us answers and we need answers right now all right we're going to I know I've been uh reaching out to seage and water board I know uh David Hammer um you guys were talking to or um I know Katie and uh Devon were on the desk a little while ago and they were talking to uh council member Helena Mareno about what what's going on so yeah guys this is just completely I he he's been on the phone with us as well I've been texting him um so so yeah guys this is this is just not good residents definitely frustrated over here I'm going to send it back to you guys yeah when we were near the Nichols campus said this was the area where some homes got quite a bit of water inside and the whole area actually where I'm standing right now on West 8th was completely flooded with water we do want to uh check in out with the home motor here miss Christina Miss Christina I mean you were here throughout the duration of hurricane uh France scene go ahead and tell me walk me through the timeline of events that happened yesterday um like once the wind and the rain started picking up like we seen some flooding but like once the eye made landfall the water came up so quick like there was nothing we could do my husband was out trying to clean the drains to see if it would help and it just it just kept coming up and up and it ended up coming in the house and I know you said for Hurricane Ida you all just had to replace the roof but this was the first time at your home in 5 years that you saw the water come up this high right yes man we didn't have any water like this for flooding I mean we deal with some flooding with the storms uh cuz the drain is just doesn't flow right even though we made complaints with the city they just tell us the pumps are the trucks are in uh the shop or something like that but nothing's really done and this time it actually got in our house and I know you have the you was telling me about the just remodeled your bathroom you the sticky towels on your floor tell me what's that looking like in there uh it's what uh like I brought you in to kind of show you I mean it's dark I can't really go in this thing um but like you step on the towels and like the water's coming through the wood and all so it's it's a mess it's we a clean up for a while so miss Christina I want to let you guys know get an idea get a picture of exactly how high the water was uh we're going to get photo journalist Caleb to go ahead and show you so miss Christina walk me down the steps and kind of give me a preview of what exactly uh we're looking at or what exactly this area looked like last night okay um like last night like when you're looking onto the porch it actually got up onto the top of the porch we had about 2 in high on the porch um and then as we go around um like the bird bath that's here here um it was like right underneath the top of it it was completely flooded so you could just barely see that bird bath right yes ma'am it was completely covered um and then if when we come around to the side you could see the waterline as you walk all along the side um like when you stand right here on the side it's probably about KNE deep on this side where the water like actually stopped to made a water line um and in the back of the house um I can show you it's actually got like Waist Deep yeah I mean just kind of standing on the side of the house where we are walking right now looking at it right now uh it's about I would say to my hip area and you're shorter than me so it' be even higher up on you but you can see how clear and defined that waterline is on this home Christina I want to tell me what we're looking at right now as we kind of go back towards the this is actually um this room where you appointing for your help this is actually our son's bedroom that's here um maybe about about a half an inch got into his bedroom this back area like right past the door this is our bedroom and we had about uh an inch to 2 Ines of water in our bedroom last night and the shed um it had my husband said about 6 in in the shed last night and that's some pretty expensive equipment y'all have back in there that you think you're going to have to replace talking about that electric water heater back there right uh yes ma'am it was completely covered the bottom panel of the electric heater of the water heater you guys are still in the dark like thousands of other people here in lefou I mean how are you feeling dealing with all this having rote out the storm here at home what's what's kind of going through your mind right now it's a lot I'm just I'm glad we made it it's not a total loss um I mean I did live in slide for Katrina and lost everything so this is a lot easier pill to swallow but when the water was coming up into the house I did start to freak because of I mean going through it before but we're here we made it you know so it's good it's just going to be a clean up absolutely and tell me I know we were talking a little bit earlier you mentioned that you all have made several complaints to the city of Tibido about the drainage uh around here on your corner on West 8th uh what do you want them to know having gone through um the worst flooding event that you've seen yet at your home I really would like them to focus on this drainage and solve the problem cuz even with just a really bad downpour rainstorm we flood we don't flood to where it got as high as it did and got into the house but we do flood we have made several complaints with the city of Tibido like we said about the drainage um they'll tell you oh there's a work order put in or the pump truck for the drainage is in the shop we're going to get to it you're on the list and in the five years I've maybe seen them five six times pumping the drains and when they're pumping the drains that's when it's not even raining and I know you were saying earlier that the water your husband was out here kind of in the the waiters trying to yeah in the boots tell me about that yes he was out like once the rain kind of stopped like a little bit and it slacked yes ma'am he was out on the road by the drainage in Hip boots last night with the rake trying to clean the drainage off to see if we can get some water to go down to try to get it out of the house yeah well I mean like you said grateful that you know it's always no loss of life it's a headache more than anything but everybody is safe so that's always the bright side I do want to take you guys Caleb you can go ahead to the front let's go back to the street cuz I want to show you guys where exactly we're talking about where these two drains are now Christina uh and Mr Tim that we were telling you about earlier who was out trying to clean out these drains if you you're looking at those two sticks kind of sticking out the ground uh Mr Tony those are where those two uh drains are here in the area he was telling me that they do have actually a lot of drains surrounding their home there's one kind of in the back there's two on the corner there's one across the street and he was saying that there's always debris especially after a storm that we've had you see these uh kind of little tree limbs tree sticks kind of sticking out right here all of this was kind of floating around and now on top of these drains here you're looking at them right now so this is where they try to Market to make sure that they can actually try and clean it out so you can see that's quite a bit of a a dip and we're still seeing a lot of debris in here so hopefully um the parish comes out they can get this cleaned up and eventually hopefully work on some uh clearing out the drains some drainage Pro we're going to reach out to the city to see what's the latest on that uh but for now guys we're going to keep walking around these neighborhoods seeing what we can see cuz we know a lot more people did unfortunately have some more water uh in their home so we're going to send it back to you guys in the studio well Devon and Katie as you can see sunny skies here in tabone Parish a much different picture than when you all were coming to me around this time yesterday now we have been surveying the damage across the parish we've seen a lot of down trees we've also seen down power poles and now we're getting an idea of how many roofs may have been damaged I'm going to step out of the way here so what you're looking at is the Homa generation power plant that we showed you last night now the parish president tells us that this has a temporary roof on it from Hurricane Ida that as you can see was blown off during Hurricane Francine and also there's some debris there is still stuck in the power lines now good news is is that linemen are staged across the parish and power has been restored to tabone General within the last hour so the hospital is expected to be fully operational by 7:00 a.m. tomorrow now we did see a lot of gas lines throughout the parish at the gas stations that were open mainly those we found in h also the parish President says that most grocery stores are now open bayu to large Floodgate Bubba du Floodgate and poan road gate are now open also we heard from Governor Jeff Landry who touched down in tabone Parish around 12:30 this afternoon he and Senator Kennedy were here they were saying that GOP has expedited pods five are coming in tomorrow around noon for folks that are in need of that power that AC here in Tbone the parish President says they're still working with FMA on repairs from Ida but overall he feels that they Fair pretty well we've taxed ourselves we put a billion dollars worth of levies together we did everything we can do if there's any more else we can do let us know we'll do it we'll do it today we'll do it tomorrow but in the short term how do we get alleviated with the issues we have because right on top of us dealing with Ida now we got a new bucket of money that's going to be dealing with Francine and those two buckets can't cross Parish officials as well as Governor Landry did meet with FEMA Representatives this afternoon now another thing that the parish president told us was that the levies did over top briefly in montigue they said that the storm surge got up to 11 ft however good news is no flooded homes reported here across tabone Parish also no injuries and no loss of life reporting live in hom Lily Cummings WWL Louisiana Orleans se and waterboards Antiquated drainage system performed well during Hurricane Francine but some of the same problems are down the drain team found back in 2017 reared their ugly heads once again WWL investigative reporter David Hammer is here now with answers as to why some areas of the city took longer to drain as hurricane Francine barreled toward New Orleans yesterday the seage and water board told me its drainage system was as ready as it's been in a long time typical Peak load we need about 44 megawatts we've got 70 available so having that redundancy is key so looking good but again difference between Readiness and execution then the eyewall of Francine dumped about 4 in an hour on the city I get a call I text actually from my mom um going from all good to waterers pulling up in the back and front um to immediately after the whole downstairs is flooded I caught up with Eli Durham at 11 p.m. near his parents house in Lake View the water was not receding how much can a homeowner in this area do before they throw their hands up and say I can't afford to do this anymore seage and water board executive director gasan Corban says overall the system performed well all hands on deck all night long just making good decisions that really paid such dividend for us in terms of the all these good things that happened but pockets of the city like Lake View and and New Orleans East were hurt by some of the same old failures at Pump Station 12 in West and one pump station where we had a glitch there at Pump Station 7 at the end of The Orleans Avenue Canal we also had some issues with one of the frequency Changers that we use to power some stations at pump stations on outfall canals in New Orleans East we rely on energy for power uh and when we when that happened we we started our backup generator and a new problem caused by lack of confidence in an old one a century old Generator called turbine 4 broken more often than not over the last decade was finally ready to go but last night was the first night that we actually really put it to good use so we have not been using it and the the level of confidence with the turbine 4 you know being so old and you know historically prone to breakdown we don't want to put a lot of load on it because again you know you're putting your all exit one basket instead they put their faith in their newest Power Equipment diesel generators called emds until an auxiliary generator that powers all of them failed at the worst time nothing happens in 10 15 minutes usually it's a 30 minute or more increments unfortunately corbon said if he had to do it over again he would have made turbine 4 the main source of power the emds the backups but it's all academic until they get a new turbine and dedicated energy substation now targeted for next hurricane season this cobbling together all these pieces of equipment and you know just transitioning for one to another it's not a like a switch if I can just go and switch on a you know I would do it in a heartbeat David Hammer WWL Louisiana there were still some lingering problems in New Orleans East today residents in the Oak Island subdivision said water in the streets actually Rose as the sege and water board tried to pump down the level of the drainage canals