Tropical Storm Lee's Storm Surge and Louisiana

Tropical Storm Lee's storm surge begins to inundate Southeast Louisiana around 5PM Saturday, September 3, 2011. Carr Drive beach and a nearby fire department in Slidell, Louisiana are swamped by Lake Pontchartrain as Tropical Storm Lee hovers in the Northern Gulf of Mexico. Within 30 minutes, this area went from virtually no presence of standing water to being entirely flooded under more than a foot of water from Lake Pontchartrain.

The president of Plaquemines parish in New Orleans, Billy Nungesser, told Fox News his biggest concern was whether the levees would hold.

"Twenty inches of rain, which is expected - we're hoping that's spread out over three days, as nowhere (here) can take that heavy rain in a concentrated timeframe," Nungesser said.

The New Orleans Times-Picayune reported several Louisiana parishes were distributing sandbags and issuing evacuation orders for the lowest-lying areas.

"It's not like the entire place is underwater, but certain places are," Jefferson Parish president John Young told the Los Angeles Times. "Right now, we're acting out of an abundance of caution. We don't want to have people trapped in there."

Lee was battering the Gulf Coast six years after the region was devastated by Hurricane Katrina.

The levee system around New Orleans failed after Katrina, submerging much of the city. More than 1500 people died.

Tropical Storm Lee Ready to Hit New Orleans

Tropical Storm Lee strengthened early Saturday morning as it inched toward Louisiana, threatening to dump heavy rains and trigger dangerous flash floods along the Gulf of Mexico coast of the United States.

Oil companies evacuated workers from offshore rigs ahead of the arrival of Lee while Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal declared a state of emergency, urging residents to "prepare for the worst and hope for the best."

The slow-moving storm could bring the same kind of flooding that residents in the northeast are still grappling with after Hurricane Irene tore up the east coast last weekend, officials warned.

Irene affected more than 40 million people, was blamed for nearly 50 deaths, triggered historic flooding and caused what one risk assessment firm estimated to be more than $10 billion in damage before blowing itself out over Canada.

Lee was 75 miles southwest of Morgan City, Louisiana early Saturday, packing sustained winds of 50 miles (85 kilometers) an hour, up from 45 miles an hour just last night, according to the NHC.

"Some strengthening is possible before the center makes landfall" later in the day, the center warned.

With some areas forecast to receive up to 20 inches of rain over the Labor Day holiday weekend, residents in low-lying areas from Louisiana and Mississippi all the way up to Kentucky and Tennessee should prepare themselves for extensive flooding, he cautioned.

It could also bring isolated tornados.

Lee was to hit the areas six years after it was devastated by Hurricane Katrina.

Tropical Storm Could Impact Gulf

The National Weather Service issued a tropical-storm warning Thursday evening that extends across the Mississippi, Louisiana and Texas coastlines.

On its current track, NWS meteorologist Bob Wagner said, Tropical Storm Lee is expected to make landfall Saturday afternoon or evening in southwest Louisiana with winds up to 60 miles per hour. Landfall at that location would bring winds of up to 40 miles per hour to the Mississippi Coast. The tropical depression was not expected to become a hurricane. It was interacting with an upper-level low-pressure system to produce large areas of showers and thunderstorms.

The tropical-storm warning was issued after the Hurricane Hunters flew into the Gulf storm Wednesday afternoon.

Wind speeds were measured at 35 miles per hour.