According to the National Weather Service, the Gulf Coast is expected to be drenched with a powerful tropical storm by Saturday afternoon. A tropical storm warning has been placed on the entire western Gulf, from Pascagoula, Mississippi to Sabine Pass, Texas. Therefore, Bobby Jindal, the Governor of Louisiana, has placed a state of emergency on the Pelican State. He anticipates that this level of preparedness will last at least until Saturday morning.

td 13

Currently, the storm only has a maximum wind speed of 35 miles per hour. It is located west southwest of New Orleans. However, TD 13 is only moving northwest at 3 miles per hour. This will cause the storm to gather power as it slowly meanders towards land. It is expected to form a cyclone that will drop between 10 – 20 inches of rain throughout southern Louisiana and Mississippi. This will cause water levels to rise between 2 and 4 feet above ground level. In the city in which we live, where most of us reside within flood zones because we are close to either bayous or the creeks that feed into them, we are expecting that if the cyclone hits with the expected power, our homes should be flooded. Luckily, my dogs are pretty good swimmers.

We are used to heavy rains accompanied by strong winds at this time of year down here. Usually, though, we are provided with more than a day’s notice. The main problem with not having enough notice is that we haven’t stocked up with canned goods in case the city goes down for a week or so, as was the case a few years back with Hurricane Gustav.

following is a video of the storm warnings associated with TD 13: