LIVE UPDATES: Hurricane Barry makes landfall, moving slowly

This is a continuation of WWL-TV’s live blog with the latest update on Hurricane Barry in the Gulf of Mexico, the first major named storm of the 2019 hurricane season.

For updates from the City of New Orleans on the storm, text Barry to 888-777

Saturday, July 13:

– 12:05 p.m. – The Archdiocese of New Orleans is excusing Catholics from mass on Sunday because of Hurricane Barry.  

– Noon – After making a small amount of progress earlier in the morning, Entergy’s outage map confirmed that nearly 75,000 customers were without power throughout the state. 

Terrebonne and Lafourche parishes have the most people without power, with 17,000 and 12,000 customers in the dark respectively. 

Entergy has mobilized nearly 3,000 workers to troubleshoot issues, but many areas are inaccessible because of floodwater or high winds preventing crews from accessing power equipment. 

– 11:57 a.m. – Northshore residents are braving the floodwaters in Mandeville to take a look at the overflowing Lake Pontchartrain. 

Here’s a look at why going out to see the river or the lake could be dangerous for Northshore residents. 

– 11:44 a.m. – Residents in New Orleans were unhappy with the mayor’s decision not to distribute sandbags in the city ahead of Hurricane Barry. But Cantrell said the sand could interfere with the Sewerage & Water Board pumps.

But S&WB had to backtrack after a reporter tweeted a photo of sandbags barricading the front door to their main office. 

Read their explanation for the sandbags here.

– 11:38 a.m. – From the city of New Orleans press conference: 

– 11:35 a.m. – If you were planning to go to a Breaux Mart to get last-minute groceries, make other plans. The supermarket chain confirmed that all metro New Orleans locations would remain closed Saturday. 

They are currently set to reopen Sunday.  

– 11:30 a.m. – Well this is horrifying! Cockroaches were spotted in Manchac climbing and swimming to get out of the incoming water from Hurricane Barry. 

Ed. Note: Story continues below the video

– 11:17 a.m. – We’re not out of the woods yet, Mayor Latoya Cantrell said at a press conference giving an update on Hurricane Barry. 

“The primary risk continues to remain heavy rains for the city of New Orleans.” 

– 11:09 a.m. – Entergy officials have brought power back online for 5,000 people, dropping the number of customers without power throughout the state to 58,000.

Crews are unable to access certain areas due to flooding, and cannot use baskets to reach hanging wires if winds are above 30 mph. Hurricane Barry has brought winds of nearly 70 mph to areas throughout the state.  

– 11:06 a.m. – 

For everything before 11 a.m. on Saturday, July 12, click here.

The U.S. National Hurricane Center said in its 11 a.m. Saturday advisory that Barry had reached maximum sustained winds of 75 mph, with higher gusts.

Hurricane-force winds were measured some 45 miles to the east of the storm’s center, which was located 40 miles south of Lafayette, Louisiana. It was moving northwest at 6 mph.

Weather forecasters said a hurricane warning is in effect for Intracoastal City to Grand Isle. Such a warning means that hurricane conditions are expected within the warning area.

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