A weekend that was supposed to be filled with celebrations of Juneteenth and Fathers’ Day in the US has turned dreary in coastal Louisiana and Mississippi, where an unpredictable tropical weather system has brought wind, heavy rain and fears of flooding to a region where some have sandbags still left over from last year’s record-breaking hurricane season.
With COVID-19 restrictions loosened and summer near, business owners across the Gulf Coast — everyone from restaurateurs to swamp boat operators — had been anticipating an influx of tourist cash after a year of lost revenue due to the COVID-19 pandemic and relentless storms.
However, those hopes have been dimmed by the storm.
“My biggest concern is that it drives away a busy weekend, and may just end up being a lot of rain,” said Austin Sumrall, the owner and chef at the White Pillars Restaurant and Lounge in Biloxi, Mississippi.
He had 170 reservations on his books for today, but was concerned some patrons would cancel.
“We saw, especially last year, the rug can get jerked out from under you pretty quickly,” he said.
The storm churning northward in the Gulf of Mexico was expected to move inland early yesterday. It is likely to dump anywhere from 13cm to 25cm of rain along parts of the Gulf Coast — even 38cm in isolated areas, US National Hurricane Center forecasters have said.
A tropical storm warning extended from Morgan City, Louisiana, to the Okaloosa-Walton County line in the Florida Panhandle.
Coastal surge flooding was possible and flash flood watches extended along the coast from southeast Louisiana into the Florida Panhandle, and well inland into Mississippi, Alabama and into parts of central and northern Georgia.
Louisiana swamp tour boat captain Darrin Coulon spent Friday securing boats to docks, having already canceled popular weekend tours.
“I’m sure the area’s going to have some flooding,” Coulon said.
Dealing with tropical storms is nothing new for Coulon, who said he jokingly tells people he is from the “cone of uncertainty,” referring to a term that forecasters use.
By Friday evening, storm clusters were dumping rain up to 10cm an hour along parts of the Louisiana and Mississippi coasts, said Benjamin Schott, meteorologist in charge at the US National Weather Service office in Slidell, Louisiana.
Radar showed more heavy rain moving ashore over Alabama and the Florida Panhandle.
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