making landfall as this system hovers over the gulf states even more rain is expected throughout the day today and even into tomorrow which is why, greg, the mayor of new orleans is saying we are not out of the woods just yet. back to you. no, not by any stretch. casey, what about the levys? how are they holding? they appear to be holding pretty well. yesterday there were reports of breeches in at least three spots of the back levy in the plaque man parish. bulldozers were in that area trying to shore those up. but we understand they were not serious breeches because only voluntary evacuations were put into affect there. we understand from the army corp of engineers that all of the pumps in and around the crescent city seem to be working doing their job. officials say that about eight inches of rainwater was sucked up by the pumps and moved over into lake pontchartrain. we just went over to lake pontchartrain within the last hour or so, and everything
southern louisiana. you are looking at jefferson parish that pace about five miles southwest of new orleans proper. water covering many of the roadways there. and it is the same story in the lower st. bernard s parish, where the sheriff s department worked to distribute half a million sandbags ahead of lee s landfall. the mayor of new orleans worried about all of this precipitation and the impact it is having on his city. we are expecting 15 to 20 inches of rain in the new orleans region, as a result of tropical storm. as all of us who have been through this know, it is not how much we get, it is how much we in a short period of time. reporter: officials say they have already sucked out about eight inches of flood waters from the streets and pumped it into lake pontchartrain. all of the pumps said to be working fine. the levees said to be holding up. army corp of engineers keeping
and we saw they didn t hold. in the last our plaquemines parish president was telling us that he s worried. they didn t fix it. what about their? reporter: billions of dollars worth of improvements were made to the levee systems, 133 miles of levees in and around the city of new orleans. yesterday we were getting reports of a breach in three places of the back levee, as it is called in plaquemines parish. bulldozers out there yesterday working to reinforce those. the army corp of engineers say the levees are holding in other spots. they are keeping their eye on it. jamie: casey, thank you. kelly: one of the big concerns with tropical storm lee now is that it doesn t seem to be moving much. it seems to be stuck over the gulf coast region. it is just there lingering, hovering there. that is causing big concerns.
seems to be holding there. obviously this is a fluid situation. however, the army corp of engineers constantly monitoring the levies, but no major breeches at this point to report, and we hope the rain continues to stay away. again, the bulk of the storm actually came ashore a little more to the east of new orleans. so the serious bulk of the storm did not hit the big easy, and people here are breathing a sigh of relief in terms of that, greg jie. that s good news. but that s good news. but it is fluid and we will check back with you. thanks ?ie. libyan rebels are claiming near victory at one of qaddafi s last remaining strongholds. the rebels surrounded the desert town, and they are now just waiting for orders to launch a final attack. we go now live to dominique in t ry poli. hi there. this is a major setback for those here in libya who thought they could actually see an end to the bloodshed as
regions and the famed french quarter behind me is not impacted at this point. despite the heavy downpours, you have a number of tourist out here enjoying the holiday weekend. but lee is packing a punch as it hovers over the gulf and gaining strength with the warm waters and residents in the low-lying areas in the gulf states have been evacuated and many are putting out sand bags to keep the flood waters out of their homes it is a drill so many have been through before. fren percent of the events that occurred came in the month of september. it is a busy time for hurricanes and tropical storms . what about the levees? , the army corp of engineers are confident they will hold