UPDATE: Francine expected to hit Louisiana as a hurricane

stepping to the podium in Louisiana, discussing lengthy about this Major tropical storm expected to strengthen. into a hurricane hurricane. Francine heading directly for Louisiana. Let's listen into these officials in New Orleans Wednesday. Corey 1. Hurricane. The horse to take. precaution. and to prepare. Prepare for heavy rain. Gusty, winds and isolated tornado. activity. This is what we have been told. this afternoon. heavy rain. When in isolated tornadoes potentially, Impacts, we've been told will start on Tuesday. evening. and lasts until Thursday. morning. Rainfall expected to be. 4 to 6 inches And of course, some localized, uh, area flooding. We could see. Uh, coordinating of course with all of our partners, both local state and federal As well as. our partners relative to our hospitality. and tourism industry. We know that we have, of course, visitors in the city of New Orleans. now again, is the time to finalize your storm. plans. and to prepare not only for your families also looking out for your neighbors As We Know, New Orleans, We know all too well. our first Responders tend to be our residents, meaning our neighbors, your neighbors. so know who they are. know, what they needs are and work collectively. again. to protect. 1. Another prepare to shelter. in place. That's what we're going to be doing. again. Preparing to shelter. in place. Got to go back to being a good neighbor checking on 1 another particularly our elderly. which we know, always tend to show up as our most vulnerable. population of people in our city. You're going to hear from other leaders after me that will give you more. uh information. but we always want to encourage our residents as well as our visitors. to text. Nola ready all 1 Word to 77295. to get real time updates from the city of New Orleans. We're standing up our Nord rec centers, you're going to hear more about that. and of course we're working with our partners relative to solar for all as well as our community. like houses that the city of New Orleans has invested in again with our partners around the city, the good news. is that we've invested. And also the good news, because we've invested, we're going to be able to see those lighthouses in our community in key areas. uh, meeting our people where they are in the city. we know the future and sustainability of New Orleans again depends. on all of us. In terms of how we adapt, to climate that has, already changed. We're going to be making sandbags available. You'll hear more from this and working with all of our partners on the New Orleans City Council. relative to distrib. sites, So at this time, I would like to call up. uh my director of Homeland Security. Colin Arnold and you will hear from more leaders after Colin. come forth. Please. Afternoon, everybody. uh, the office Homeland Security emergency preparedness is monitoring this system. tropical storm Francine recently upgraded this morning. Um has the potential uh, to become a category 1 hurricane is what we're hearing. at this point. We always kind of plan ahead that, um, you know, you go 1 level above uh, we do believe that this is a shelter in place scenario storm. and that, uh, for the, you know, the public uh, they should be uh, pay a lot of attention to this, um, and act their plan for a shelter in place lower level. Uh, indirect direct hit from a tropical storm or category 1 hurricane. Uh, it appears it will be coming into the west of us at this point. we'll obviously be monitoring the forecast to see if there has been some East Movement. uh, overnight and into today. Uh, but it it, the models seem to be in pretty much agreement that um, you know, we are looking at uh, potentially uh, rain, um, anywhere from 4 to 6 inches over the entire event. So that would be basically, you know, from say now until uh, Thursday, Thursday. evening. Um, but I think that Wednesday and Thursday are going to be uh, the days that are going to be most impactful for our for our city and for our area. and that, um, people should really consider uh, Wednesday and Thursday staying home. staying indoors. Staying off the roads, You know, we we do plan to close uh, city government on Wednesday and Thursday. We plan to uh, schools plan to close on Wednesday and Thursday. I think you're just going to see And, and I think we would encourage that other businesses and relevant. Uh, you know, companies and things in the city, do the same thing. uh, another is the as the mayor mentioned. is, uh, you know, minor to moderate coastal flooding. That does not include areas inside the hurricane and storm damage risk reduction system. The levy system Um this would be um, you know, important for the our, our neighbors and residents that live out in Venetian Isles Lake, Catherine and Irish. Bayou, Uh, we have been speaking with the flood protection authority. eastbank and they are not closing. some of those higher sill Gates uh, including the lakefront. uh including out there on Chef Highway and out 90 uh, you know, we did take that into consideration being, uh, the bridges being down over Chef Paz. Um, but at this point, it appears that you will have. free free traffic through there. Um, you know, I think people out in those areas should exercise caution but what we were seeing was 2 to 4 feet of coastal flooding, that's uh, not outside. Um, that's not concerning for us. We've, we see that out there during some wind events, Just, uh, any time of year, uh, again isolated, uh, tornado activity is always possible, in this, in these types of events. So, that's something That we want to. uh, you know, make sure everybody pays attention to and, you know, strong winds uh, 39 to 54 miles an hour, maybe even some higher gusts. you know, 1 of the 1 of the things that we're seeing about this. And and that we've asked about, is that this is moving uh, it's it's a little slow right now but as it gets gathers, Steam and moves up towards the uh towards us here. in the in the here in the in the Northwestern Gulf or Northeastern Gulf. I'm sorry. Um it's going to move pretty fast and and we anticipate this this is going to move through the area relatively quickly. They're not seeing signs of any kind of stalling, uh, with that, you know, we may start getting some outer bands tomorrow night. So, my encouragement for the public is, uh, as as Step 2, you know, 1 is enacting your plan. Step 2 finish gathering your supplies today. And tomorrow we think you've got a pretty good opportunity of window to get what you need. Just to make sure you're good through Thursday or Friday, uh, tonight and, and moving into tomorrow during the day. We have just initially because this is obviously a dynamic situation reached out to the council. They've been a, a great help to us in the material for sandbags, of the material for sandbags. We are going to uh work on having that tomorrow at some point during the afternoon, probably from around noon to 4. Don't quote me on it just yet we we will make sure and pump that out. Uh, but We're going to work with our council members in the districts to find the best location to drop the sand. Uh, it will be, you know, uh, come and and uh, and get your sandbags, you know, they'll be a limit probably 5 Usually we do 5 to 6 sand bags per carload and uh you can come and do that to either protect your property, protect your front door. uh, and the like, so, more will come on that. And then finally, as the mayor talked about as well, it's really important at this point that you stay connected and you can do that by uh, Signing up for Nola. ready alerts. You can either do it online at ready.nola.gov. where you can also find out about, you know, preparedness tips for hurricanes and flooding. and and all those things that we work uh year round to work on here in the city. and then you can also sign up by text short code, by texting Nola, ready, 1, Word to 77295. Uh, if you'd like those alerts in Spanish, you can text. ESP. to 77295. And receive those alerts in Spanish A lot, A lot of what we'll be. uh, putting out there will be reposts from the national Weather Service as these warnings and watches come out. We are under a tropical storm. watch right now for the area and also a storm surge watch for the area. But again, I would say that that does not include areas inside the levy system, um, with that. uh, please follow us on social media at Nola ready and just stay connected. Um, consider Wednesday and Thursday days to stay home. Um, get your supplies together. and we're going to see you on on the other side of this and everything's going to be fine. So uh we got a great team working here. Uh, with that. I'll turn it over to Nathaniel Fields. Who is our director of homeless services and strategies? Thank you. All right, you're just listening in there to this uh update from New Orleans. Let's find a way for a quick 2-minute break. We'll get you back out to this as we're detailing. Uh, this tropical storm Francine expected to become a hurricane. This is from the National Hurricane Center. St. Francine