The climate crisis is making tropical storms worse, experts warned as Louisiana faced flooding threats from a powerful storm that made landfall Saturday at midday.
“The real increased threat from a warming climate is an atmosphere that’s capable of producing higher intensity precipitation events,” Jill Trepanier, an extreme climatic and weather events expert, told Al Jazeera on Friday.
Tropical storm Barry was downgraded from a hurricane after making landfall, but the threat from excessive rainfall and winds is still real for Louisiana residents in the cyclone’s path.
Barry hit the Louisiana coast at about 1pm ET, drenching towns along the Gulf of Mexico with rainfall as it moved inland. Some parts of Louisiana could receive up to 25 inches of rain, according to some estimates.
The city of New Orleans was under a shelter in place advisory Saturday. The Mississippi River, which threatened to overtop its levees after up to 10 inches of rain fell on the city Thursday, is no longer a threat to flood, but the city remains watchful.
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