Hurricane (Typhoon) — Upper Plaquemines, Louisiana

2008-09-01 to 2008-09-02 · Upper Plaquemines, Louisiana

Event narrative

Hurricane Gustav affected around 25 homes in upper Plaquemines Parish with most of them only receiving minor damage. A few businesses also received damage and some trees and utility poles were knocked down. Most of the damage was caused by high winds associated with Gustav.

Wider weather episode

Hurricane Gustav emerged into the southeast Gulf of Mexico as a major category 3 hurricane on August 31st after developing in the Caribbean Sea and moving across western Cuba. Gustav tracked northwestward across the Gulf toward Louisiana and made landfall as a category 2 hurricane near Cocodrie, Louisiana during the morning of September 1st. Gustav continued to move northwest across south Louisiana and weakened to a Category 1 storm over south central Louisiana later that day. The storm diminished to a tropical depression over northwestern Louisiana on September 2nd.

The highest wind gust recorded was 102 knots or 117 mph at a USGS site at the Houma Navigational Canal and at the Pilot Station Est C-MAN at near the Southwest Pass of the Mississippi River. The highest sustained wind of 91 mph was recorded at the Pilot's Station East C-MAN site.

However, due to the failure of equipment at some observation sites during the storm higher winds may have occurred. The minimum sea level pressure measured was 951.6 millibars at a USGS site at Caillou Lake southwest of Dulac and 954.5 millibars at the LUMCON facility near Dulac. Rainfall varied considerably across southeast Louisiana ranging from around 4 inches to just over 11 inches.

Gustav produced widespread wind damage across southeast Louisiana, especially in the area from Houma and Thibodaux through the greater Baton Rouge area. Hurricane force wind gusts occurred across the inland areas through the Baton Rouge area and surrounding parishes. A peak wind gust of 91 mph was recorded at the Baton Rouge (Ryan Field) Airport at 112 PM CST. This was only one mph less than the highest wind gust recorded during Hurricane Betsy in 1965. The electric utility serving most of southeast Louisiana reported 75 to 100 percent of utility customers were without power after the storm from Lafourche and Terrebonne Parishes northwest through the Baton Rouge area to southwest Mississippi and central Louisiana. Considerable damage occurred to many houses and structures as large tree limbs and trees were toppled by the hurricane force winds. Preliminary estimates from the American Red Cross indicated that around 13,000 single family dwellings were damaged by the hurricane in southeast Louisiana, and several thousand more apartments and mobile homes. Early estimates from Louisiana Economic Development indicated that Gustav caused at least $4.5 billion in property damage in Louisiana, including insured and uninsured losses.

A storm surge of 5 to 8 feet above normal occurred along the coast from the mouth of Mississippi River westward through Terrebonne Parish. The highest storm surge of 8 to 12 feet above normal occurred more distant to the east, on the east side of the Mississippi River Delta, from the Mouth of Mississippi River to the Mississippi-Louisiana border. Storm surge around Lake Pontchartrain was generally 4 to 5 feet above normal. Storm surge affected many low-lying coastal areas as well as areas around Lake Pontchartrain, but federal levees protected most of the high density population areas of greater New Orleans. However, some locally built levees were breached or overtopped.

Three tornadoes occurred on the 2nd of September from feeder bands over the area as remnants of Gustav passed well north of the area. The most significant of the tornadoes occurred on west bank areas of Jefferson Parish where several structures suffered heavy damage.

Rainfall run-off was great enough to produce moderate flooding at some locations along the Amite and Comite Rivers in the Baton Rouge area, and along the Bogue Falaya River in the Covington area.

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 135012. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.