Katrina Death Toll: 320M Trees

Rain totals along coast could reach 10 to 15 inches

(AP) - Bands of heavy rain and strong wind gusts from Tropical Storm Lee knocked out power to thousands in south Louisiana and Mississippi today and prompted evacuations in bayou towns like Jean Lafitte, where water lapped at several front doors. The sluggish storm stalled just before making landfall, and threatened to dump more than a foot of rain across the northern Gulf Coast and into the Southeast in coming days. No injuries were reported and there were only scattered reports of water entering low-lying homes and businesses. More»

(NEWSER) - Louisiana is still finding coffins displaced by Hurricane Katrina three years on, the Wall Street Journal reports. Katrina and Rita moved 1,500 bodies from their resting places in the state's swampy south, where floating coffins during floods have long been part of local folklore. Hundreds remain unidentified, and they are still turning up in woods and water. More»

Flash flooding expected from drenching storm

(AP) - As Katia regained hurricane status, the center of Tropical Storm Lee stretched across the central Gulf Coast early today, dumping torrential rains that threatened flooding in low-lying communities in a foreshadowing of what cities further inland could face in coming days. Lee's center crawled ashore in Louisiana before dawn after the vast, soggy storm system spent hours during the weekend hovering in the northernmost Gulf of Mexico— knocking out power to 32,000 before it even made landfall . The storm's slow crawl to the north gave more time for its drenching rain bands to pelt a wide swath of vulnerable coastline, raising the flood threat. More»

Mississippi joins Louisiana in declaring an emergency in some areas

(NEWSER) - Lee has intensified as expected into a tropical storm and is expected to drench Louisiana and Mississippi over the weekend. Both states have declared states of emergency near the coast, with Lee expected to make landfall in the next 48 hours with 65mph winds, reports CNN . The real hazard is expected to be the accompanying rain, however, with some areas expecting up to 20 inches. More»

Post-Katrina drop higher than expected

(NEWSER) - New Orleans' population has far from rebounded from Hurricane Katrina and it's now a much smaller city that it was a decade ago, according to newly released data from the 2010 census. The city's population now stands at 343,829, down 29% from 2000. The black population has shrunk at a faster rate than the white population, and there are 56,193 fewer children—a drop of almost 44% from 10 years ago. More»