New Orleans on tornado alert as Lee hits Gulf Coast

Tornado warning were issued as heavy rains from Tropical Storm Lee fell in southern Louisiana and pelted the Gulf Coast Saturday.

The storm could bring up to 20 inches of rain to some areas, bringing the risk of dangerous flash floods.

Tropical storm warnings were in effect from Mississippi to Texas, and flash flood warnings extended along the Alabama coast into the Florida Panhandle.

The National Weather Service issued several tornado warnings for New Orleans and other parts of Louisiana early Saturday. They were due to last until 8 a.m. CT (9 a.m. ET) and there were also tornado watches in place until 10 a.m. CT (11 a.m. ET).

The storm's slow forward movement means that its rain clouds should have more time to disgorge themselves on any cities in their path.

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The Weather Channel, in a posting on its website, said the storm had strengthened as it slowly made its way towards the Louisiana coast.

"Heavy rain and gusty winds are impacting the northern Gulf Coast from the western Florida Panhandle to Louisiana. Some power outages have been reported in Louisiana and winds have gusted to 56 mph at New Orleans Lakefront Airport," it added.

The Weather Channel said Lee likely would remain a tropical storm until landfall. Earlier, it said that it could not rule out Lee becoming a hurricane.

Lee's biggest impact, so far, has been in the Gulf of Mexico oil fields. About half the Gulf's normal daily oil production has been cut as rigs were evacuated, though oil prices were down sharply Friday on sour economic news.

Federal authorities said 169 of the 617 staffed production platforms have been evacuated, along with 16 of the 62 drilling rigs. That's reduced daily production by about 666,000 barrels of oil and 1.7 billion cubic feet of gas.

Video: Jindal warns La. of possible flash floods (on this page)

The storm was expected to make landfall on the central Louisiana coast late Saturday and turn east toward New Orleans, where it would provide the biggest test of rebuilt levees since Hurricane Gustav struck on Labor Day 2008.

Still, residents didn't expect the tropical storm to live up to the legacy of some of the killer hurricanes that have hit the city.

"It's a lot of rain. It's nothing, nothing (compared) to Katrina," said Malcolm James, 59, a federal investigator in New Orleans who lost his home after levees broke during Katrina in August 2005 and had to be airlifted by helicopter.

"This is mild," he said. "Things could be worse."

PhotoBlog: View, discuss weather photos

The outer bands of Lee, the 12th named storm of the Atlantic hurricane season, began dumping rain over southeastern Louisiana, southern Mississippi and Alabama on Friday.

The National Hurricane Center said the center of Lee was about 95 miles south of Lafayette and moving north-northwest at just 7 mph. It was expected to cross the Louisiana coast by Saturday night and pass into the southern portion of the state on Sunday.

Forecasters say that Lee's maximum sustained winds had increased slightly by early Saturday morning to 50 mph, and could get stronger.

Lee comes less than a week after Hurricane Irene brought destruction to the Caribbean and the U.S. Eastern Seaboard, killing more than 50 people. It was too soon to tell if Hurricane Katia, out in the Atlantic, could endanger the U.S. It was expected to pass north of the Leeward Islands in the Caribbean.

The water-logged system is tantalizingly close to Texas but too far away to alleviate the state's drought.

Story: Dry Texas expected to again miss out on rain from storm

If the center moves mostly into Louisiana, as expected, winds on its west side will blow from land to open water and reduce the chance of rain in Texas, said NWS meteorologist Dennis Cavanaugh. The hot, dry winds could even spur fire danger across the state.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Source: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/44382285/ns/weather/

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