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CNN Live At Daybreak
New Orleans Not Directly in Lili's Path
Aired October 03, 2002 - 06:21 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: Twenty-one minutes past the hour. Hurricane Lili is now a Category 3 storm. We want to head back out to Louisiana.
New Orleans may not take the brunt of hurricane Lili, but it's still going to feel very strong effects of this storm. In fact, tornado warnings are out there now.
CNN's Eric Philips is in the Big Easy -- good morning, Eric.
You know, it's nasty there, but a short time ago with Chad, we saw people throwing hurricane parties in the French Quarter, people were outside frolicking. That's really not a good idea, is it?
ERIC PHILIPS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Carol, it really isn't a good idea, certainly not a safe idea. You know, it's still early here and the hurricane is miles away but we're already seeing gusting winds here, very strong winds and torrential downpours off and on. About 850,000 people throughout coastal Louisiana have evacuated, heading to some 60 shelters across the area.
And although, as you said, Lili has been downgraded now to a Category 3, folks here are still bracing for the worst.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
PHILIPS (voice-over): On the heels of tropical storm Isidore, hurricane Lili is poised to deliver a second bad weather blow to Louisiana's Gulf Coast in as many weeks. Upon word that Lili had been upgraded to a Category 4 hurricane with maximum sustained winds of more than 140 miles per hour, thousands of residents in coastal Louisiana were ordered to leave while others decided to do so, heading to area shelters.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm scared of the weather, man. I heard it was coming pretty fast. I got going.
PHILIPS: But those who stayed to ride out whatever Lili brings their way have been boarding up and battening down.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We are worried. We're very worried, because we have so much water around here, the Gulf and the Mississippi River. And it floods so badly. It's a low lying area. So it floods very badly.
PHILIPS: City officials have not evacuated New Orleans, though they've encouraged residents to prepare. Forecasters predict the Big Easy will not feel the worst of Lili's fury. Some believe it's a time to celebrate and joined hurricane parties as late as this morning.
But Lili is a serious storm. It could be the worst hurricane the state has seen in 35 years, with possible storm surges of up to 25 feet, sending potentially deadly floods into low lying areas far inland.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
(on camera): The two main concerns here, the wind and storm surges. Forecasters say this area could see storm surges of between four and six feet. That's a lot better than what areas west of here could see from hurricane Lili.
We're live in downtown New Orleans.
I'm Eric Philips -- Carol, back to you.
COSTELLO: And just so our viewers understand, New Orleans is below sea level, and that's why dangers of flooding are even greater in this storm.
PHILIPS: That's right. Much of the city lies below sea level and so any flooding at all could be dangerous. But when you add on top of that that last week they just saw some remnants from tropical storm Isidore, they're looking at a very serious situation here.
COSTELLO: Eric, we're hearing sirens. Can you see where they're coming from?
PHILIPS: I'm sorry, Carol, I couldn't hear you.
COSTELLO: We're hearing police sirens. Can you see where they're coming from?
PHILIPS: I'm not sure. The sirens have been going off most of the morning and I've been wondering the same thing. But if it serves as any warning at all, the people who are attending those hurricane parties sure aren't heeding it.
COSTELLO: No, they're not.
Thank you very much, Eric Philips.
I don't think he can stay dry so I don't even wish him a dry place to go.
COSTELLO: Morgan City and Lake Charles, Louisiana next stops, as our team coverage of Lili's wrath continues on this special edition of DAYBREAK.
COMMERCIAL
COSTELLO: We want to head up to the weather center now to check on hurricane Lili.
And I have a question from one of our viewers, Jacqui. He said he's heard that the worst part of a hurricane is after the eye hits and he says, "During Camille, I learned that it was bad because it hits in an opposite direction from the first part."
Is that right?
JACQUI JERAS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, the worst part of the hurricane, we call it the right front quadrant. So here's the eye right here. So it's going to be this part of the hurricane. And you can see that it really spells out very clearly on our radar picture where all the heavy rain bands are going to be.
And take a look at New Orleans. You see all these bright golds and these oranges and reds in here. That's indicative of some very strong thunderstorms and very heavy rainfall. Visibility is going to be very, very poor. We could easily pick up an inch or two in a very short period of time, maybe a half an hour or an hour or so.
So this is going to be the worst part of the hurricane in terms of the winds, in terms of the tornadoes.
In terms of the storm surge, of course, that's going to happen kind of right about in the middle. You'll see the eye starting to break out there and then we'll be seeing that big wall of water that rises on up. And we're talking about a storm surge of about nine to 12 feet with this one. So that is going to cause a lot of flooding problems, Carol.
You can see the lighter blues. This is just some light to moderate rain around Lake Charles up towards Alexandria. But it will continue to spread out, we think, as it makes landfall and then it will start to weaken a little bit.
Now, how much rain are we going to be expecting with hurricane Lili? Well, quite a bit. Were looking at probably between six and 10 inches of rain in the worst area, which will be about east central parts of Louisiana and western parts of Mississippi.
And then you get a little farther out and it's going to be about three to six inches of rain. That includes Jackson, Mississippi, it includes central parts of Louisiana, down to the west of New Iberia. And then into the Shreveport area, one to three inches will be anticipated, as well as up towards Little Rock and then out to the east over Mobile, Pensacola may be seeing one to three inches of rainfall for today. That's just today, with the heavy rain. It will continue to push on up to the north and to the east.
Now, the winds, that will be our other big factor. Hurricane force winds extend out about 45 miles from the center of this storm. But as it makes landfall and continues to move inland, we'll watch for hurricane force winds to extend probably about 115 miles from the shoreline, approximately. Where are the winds right now? Well, we're seeing some gusts around 40 miles per hour or so. We've seen some gusts already of near 45 miles per hour. It's 40 right now in New Iberia, as well as in New Orleans. Boothville at 37 miles per hour, Mobile 24 miles per hour and Lake Charles, looking at a wind gust at 31 miles per hour. So that's the gusts, not the sustained speeds, with this one. And we'll watch for those wind speeds to continue to increase.
And as we just showed you on that radar picture, how close the eye is getting to landfall. We think probably in the next hour and a half, maybe two hours we're going to be seeing Lili move onshore -- Carol.
COSTELLO: OK, thanks very much, Jacqui.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
Aired October 3, 2002 - 06:21 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: Twenty-one minutes past the hour. Hurricane Lili is now a Category 3 storm. We want to head back out to Louisiana.
New Orleans may not take the brunt of hurricane Lili, but it's still going to feel very strong effects of this storm. In fact, tornado warnings are out there now.
CNN's Eric Philips is in the Big Easy -- good morning, Eric.
You know, it's nasty there, but a short time ago with Chad, we saw people throwing hurricane parties in the French Quarter, people were outside frolicking. That's really not a good idea, is it?
ERIC PHILIPS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Carol, it really isn't a good idea, certainly not a safe idea. You know, it's still early here and the hurricane is miles away but we're already seeing gusting winds here, very strong winds and torrential downpours off and on. About 850,000 people throughout coastal Louisiana have evacuated, heading to some 60 shelters across the area.
And although, as you said, Lili has been downgraded now to a Category 3, folks here are still bracing for the worst.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
PHILIPS (voice-over): On the heels of tropical storm Isidore, hurricane Lili is poised to deliver a second bad weather blow to Louisiana's Gulf Coast in as many weeks. Upon word that Lili had been upgraded to a Category 4 hurricane with maximum sustained winds of more than 140 miles per hour, thousands of residents in coastal Louisiana were ordered to leave while others decided to do so, heading to area shelters.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm scared of the weather, man. I heard it was coming pretty fast. I got going.
PHILIPS: But those who stayed to ride out whatever Lili brings their way have been boarding up and battening down.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We are worried. We're very worried, because we have so much water around here, the Gulf and the Mississippi River. And it floods so badly. It's a low lying area. So it floods very badly.
PHILIPS: City officials have not evacuated New Orleans, though they've encouraged residents to prepare. Forecasters predict the Big Easy will not feel the worst of Lili's fury. Some believe it's a time to celebrate and joined hurricane parties as late as this morning.
But Lili is a serious storm. It could be the worst hurricane the state has seen in 35 years, with possible storm surges of up to 25 feet, sending potentially deadly floods into low lying areas far inland.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
(on camera): The two main concerns here, the wind and storm surges. Forecasters say this area could see storm surges of between four and six feet. That's a lot better than what areas west of here could see from hurricane Lili.
We're live in downtown New Orleans.
I'm Eric Philips -- Carol, back to you.
COSTELLO: And just so our viewers understand, New Orleans is below sea level, and that's why dangers of flooding are even greater in this storm.
PHILIPS: That's right. Much of the city lies below sea level and so any flooding at all could be dangerous. But when you add on top of that that last week they just saw some remnants from tropical storm Isidore, they're looking at a very serious situation here.
COSTELLO: Eric, we're hearing sirens. Can you see where they're coming from?
PHILIPS: I'm sorry, Carol, I couldn't hear you.
COSTELLO: We're hearing police sirens. Can you see where they're coming from?
PHILIPS: I'm not sure. The sirens have been going off most of the morning and I've been wondering the same thing. But if it serves as any warning at all, the people who are attending those hurricane parties sure aren't heeding it.
COSTELLO: No, they're not.
Thank you very much, Eric Philips.
I don't think he can stay dry so I don't even wish him a dry place to go.
COSTELLO: Morgan City and Lake Charles, Louisiana next stops, as our team coverage of Lili's wrath continues on this special edition of DAYBREAK.
COMMERCIAL
COSTELLO: We want to head up to the weather center now to check on hurricane Lili.
And I have a question from one of our viewers, Jacqui. He said he's heard that the worst part of a hurricane is after the eye hits and he says, "During Camille, I learned that it was bad because it hits in an opposite direction from the first part."
Is that right?
JACQUI JERAS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, the worst part of the hurricane, we call it the right front quadrant. So here's the eye right here. So it's going to be this part of the hurricane. And you can see that it really spells out very clearly on our radar picture where all the heavy rain bands are going to be.
And take a look at New Orleans. You see all these bright golds and these oranges and reds in here. That's indicative of some very strong thunderstorms and very heavy rainfall. Visibility is going to be very, very poor. We could easily pick up an inch or two in a very short period of time, maybe a half an hour or an hour or so.
So this is going to be the worst part of the hurricane in terms of the winds, in terms of the tornadoes.
In terms of the storm surge, of course, that's going to happen kind of right about in the middle. You'll see the eye starting to break out there and then we'll be seeing that big wall of water that rises on up. And we're talking about a storm surge of about nine to 12 feet with this one. So that is going to cause a lot of flooding problems, Carol.
You can see the lighter blues. This is just some light to moderate rain around Lake Charles up towards Alexandria. But it will continue to spread out, we think, as it makes landfall and then it will start to weaken a little bit.
Now, how much rain are we going to be expecting with hurricane Lili? Well, quite a bit. Were looking at probably between six and 10 inches of rain in the worst area, which will be about east central parts of Louisiana and western parts of Mississippi.
And then you get a little farther out and it's going to be about three to six inches of rain. That includes Jackson, Mississippi, it includes central parts of Louisiana, down to the west of New Iberia. And then into the Shreveport area, one to three inches will be anticipated, as well as up towards Little Rock and then out to the east over Mobile, Pensacola may be seeing one to three inches of rainfall for today. That's just today, with the heavy rain. It will continue to push on up to the north and to the east.
Now, the winds, that will be our other big factor. Hurricane force winds extend out about 45 miles from the center of this storm. But as it makes landfall and continues to move inland, we'll watch for hurricane force winds to extend probably about 115 miles from the shoreline, approximately. Where are the winds right now? Well, we're seeing some gusts around 40 miles per hour or so. We've seen some gusts already of near 45 miles per hour. It's 40 right now in New Iberia, as well as in New Orleans. Boothville at 37 miles per hour, Mobile 24 miles per hour and Lake Charles, looking at a wind gust at 31 miles per hour. So that's the gusts, not the sustained speeds, with this one. And we'll watch for those wind speeds to continue to increase.
And as we just showed you on that radar picture, how close the eye is getting to landfall. We think probably in the next hour and a half, maybe two hours we're going to be seeing Lili move onshore -- Carol.
COSTELLO: OK, thanks very much, Jacqui.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
