Hurricane Barry spares New Orleans so far

Hurricane Barry crept onto the shores of Louisiana west of flood-weary New Orleans on Saturday, drawing cautious optimism from city residents who saw little rainfall from the storm as of evening, and from officials in western coastal parishes that were drenched and battered but had prepared for much worse.

After a brief life as a Category 1 hurricane, Barry was downgraded to a tropical storm as it made landfall and continued to weaken. But the threat of flooding brought on by the storm’s incessant rain remained high, particularly in and around Baton Rouge, as the system churned north.

“This is just the beginning,” Gov. John Bel Edwards of Louisiana said at a midafternoon news conference. “I ask everyone to stay vigilant and be safe. This has always been projected to be a rain-flood event and it will be.”

The governor said that officials were closely watching the Amite and Comite Rivers. These rain-swollen waterways contributed to the catastrophic flooding in and around Baton Rouge in August 2016 that killed 13 people and displaced tens of thousands, some of whom have not been able to move back into their houses.