Its just overrunning the levee. Thanks for staying with us on msnbc. Im richard lui live in new york city. Following breaking news on Tropical Storm barry. Its been downgraded from a hurricane, but hang on a second. Still large concern for the gulf coast, lots of rain, flooding for days, up to 20 inches of rain expected through sunday across parts of louisiana. This is just some of the video weve been seeing of water flowing over the top of levees in louisiana today. There have been reports of floods forcing people to scramble to roof tops. Nbcs jay gray has the latest from new orleans. Reporter barry, the first hurricane of the season, didnt maintain that status for long. A category 1 storm for just a few hours before quickly dropping back to a Tropical Storm. Although barry has slowed, its also intensified. Reporter there is a significant danger right now across the strike zone. Mandatory Evacuations Ordered this afternoon inter rebon parish, while the rush is to get cattle to higher ground. Some areas brace are for what could be another 20 inches of rain. Going to be a long several days for our state. I know the people of louisiana are strong and resilient. And i can assure you, we are going to get through this, but there are going to be some significant challenges. Reporter a challenge that is already growing like the flood waters. You can see the bridge, the water pushing up underneath the bridge. Reporter states and neighbors have been swallowed with more on the way. A fight that forecasters say, like the rain, will continue for the next several days here. J j joining me from Plaquemines Parish, Mariana Atencio. I was looking at what the governor was saying in louisiana. Just some of the numbers he brought out, nearly 3,000 Louisiana National guard soldiers deployed throughout the state. Also mentioning 172 coach buses, 22 paratransit, and 170 school buses available for missions there. Theyre trying to help people that have been in the area that you have been reporting from there in louisiana. Have you seen them around . Reporter you can see, i think, one of their trucks behind me right now, richard. National guard trucks. And the effort here from what jays package explained are those significant challenges, challenges like this road, highway 23 that we have been reporting on that is getting flooded because of that storm surge, because of the rainfall. And just because of the flooding that is coming from these neighborhoods that are completely blocked off because of this storm. Sand bagging efforts are under way. Weve been driving up and down this highway. National guard has now set up in formal check points and the one you see behind me. In main arteries like this one that could cut off entire communities, that could present even more challenges to try to help people in need, for people to come back to their homes, and just for the state itself to recover. As you were mentioning with the governor, we have new information from the National Weather service. The area still at high risk of rainfall, an additional six to ten inches. Thinking about an additional 6 to 10 inches and what would mean for these communities is a lot to process. And then the risk of storm surge still not out of peoples hair here. Its actually it doesnt seem like its raining much here, but if you just drive ten minutes north like i did with my team, come back here, it is pouring in other areas here of southeastern louisiana. Richard . Mariana, i can see the power lines, right . Weve been watching those reports of how many folks are out of power in terms of Power Outages, 125,000, so about 20 minutes ago youre going to have sunset there in the new orleans area in the Plaquemines Parish youre reporting from in the coming hours. Have you seen any crews out . Its probably too early. I dont know the answer, but the storm is still there. Reporter to be honest, i have not seen downed power lines or crews yet. It is still early. That rainfall is still a risk. So for the area where ive been moving around here, Plaquemines Parish, the challenge right now is basically these flooded communities. I havent seen challenges yet that i know of in terms of the power, but we do know, of course, that across the state of the louisiana, richard, its tens of thousands of people that are already without power. As it usually happens with these storms and ive covered quite a few of them over the past couple of years, it is really the day after when the power situation becomes the major focus. Richard . I know you were just mentioning the truck behind you potentially being a National Guard truck. Is that a tanker truck . Theres always the question of water and Potable Water in tough spaces. Can you tell what kind of truck it is . Is it some sort of tanker . Reporter im going to move out of the way so my cameraman, scott, can give you a better shot at the truck. It looks like a tanker truck. In front of it is a National Guard truck. We saw about four of them driving past just before we went live with you. My assumption is, of course, that they are going to be conducting these sand bagging efforts throughout the highway. We saw it north of the highway. And then seven miles south of here is a place called Point Celeste that we heard from the sheriff is also threatened by heavy flooding. So these are the two sort of emergency points right now. The focus in this community, in the words of sheriff when i interviewed her a couple moments ago, he said its a mess, literally thats what he said. Thats what these crews are dealing with right now. Richard . Marry ann atencio. Thank you, mariana for giving us the very latest there in louisiana. Lets get over to morgan cesky also in louisiana, baton rouge instead. When we were talking a couple hours ago here, morgan, you were saying its calm right now, but its headed this way in terms of barry. What are you seeing now . Reporter richard, we can definitely feel that those outer strands of barry are making their way through this area. The winds are picking up. One of the members of my team recorded a gust of 100 Miles Per Hour. Meanwhile, its been raining nonstop for the past few hours, that could likely be the case for hours to come, if not days, considering how slow system is moving. Keep in mind the water you see behind me, thats the Mississippi River above flood stage but its not as a result of Tropical Storm barry as it comes inland. This was already high as a result of other rains that have happened in this area. Thats what causing so much concern for a lot of folks here in baton rouge because they remember just back in 2016 another massive rain event that actually goes by the storm that has no name caused more than a billion dollars in damage, damaged more than 100,000 homes and put mud and up to four feet of water in a lot of folks houses. Thats why people are talking about and considering packing up and going to shelters or just getting out of dodge altogether because once you get that steady amount of rain to fall in this area for potentially days on end, its not going to be a good thing, richard, because these people here say that all of the creeks and rivers drain into the mississippi. And so if thats sustained, its going to be a serious cause for concern in the days ahead. Morgan, we expect to hear from the governor in two or three hours, i think, is what was the advisory. In his last update and i was speaking with mariana, you may have heard our conversation. He was saying how there are 3,000 National Guard soldiers that have been deployed as well as over 170 coach buses and other vehicles to help people get from one place to another. Have you seen any sort of assistance, government buses that he was alluding to in where you have traveled so far today there in baton rouge . Reporter having been both in new orleans and baton rouge today, i can tell you the majority of the assistance from the National Guard were deployed to those outlying areas that surrounded new orleans. As we approach baton rouge, the rain did begin to pick up, but, frankly, the worst of the damage we dont anticipate for another day or two as the rain continues to fall. I do know the National Guard is spread across the state of louisiana. We did speak to a leader of the cajun navy who says they are prepositioning boats nearby if anyone needs help, or even being rescued. So its a developing story here. Its fluid, to put it quite literally. Morgan cesky from baton rouge, louisiana. Were going to touch base with you later as barry makes its way towards you. Meteorologist Michelle Grossman also with us this hour. You are watching the reports here, michelle, and the video, the pictures of both the water that was there at the mississippi, the inundation that Mariana Atencio was showing us is Plaquemines Parish. And what appears to be the sand or marbles or stones that were going to be used to maybe shore up certain levees. What are you seeing from the reports that is consistent with what youre seeing on the satellite dishes . So we continue to watch the rain. That is the major headline. I think they both hit the nail on the head. This is just starting. This is going to be a 48hour event or at least the next 36. Were going to see pictures that are catastrophic in some spots over the next couple days. Certainly something were going to watch over the next couple days. Its been a strange storm from the getgo. It came to the south, drove on down, hit the gulf, took the warmth of the gulf and kind of became a powerhouse. It was never a windmaker. Still 65 Miles Per Hour but its been a rainmaker. It picked up the moisture and moved to the north. Lets give you the latest on barry. It is 20 miles westsouthwest of lafayette, louisiana, still moving painfully slow. Thats part of the problems. 65mileperhour winds. Thats a strong Tropical Storm. It did hit category 1 status, but quickly dissipated as it hit land as expected. We now hope it picks up forward speed but were not expecting that. That is bad news for many because you see the training of rain over many spots. Lets take a look at the path here. Not moving very fast. By 1 00 still in louisiana. Not until later on monday is it in arkansas. Were going to see this move very slowly. Finally into the tennessee valley, eventually into the ohio valley, and then the midatlantic northeast by thursday and friday. We want to talk about the rain. We cant say this enough. Rain is the weather headline, potentially deadly flooding, flash flooding. So we do have flash flood watches in the green. Flash flooding possible through monday. Just saturday night, thats monday morning. We do have a Flash Flood Warning because weve been seeing rain for hours and hours. Memphis down to alexandria were seeing the potential for that watch. This is the latest sixhour loop. Heres the heaviest rain right now. But we see the yellows and oranges thats indicating where the heaviest rain is falling. The dark colors indicating the heavier rain. Lighter rain in new orleans, but biloxi was getting a lot of rain. Getting a bit of a break. Theyre in and out of those heavy showers, but its been eight hours of them being inundated with that. Were going to continue to see the bands move on shore over the next 36 hours and training over that same area, training meaning hitting the same spot over and over again. As we move throughout time here, this is what were expecting in terms of rainfall. Anywhere from 10, up to 20, even 25 inches of rain. So its two feet of rain in some spots, really hard to wrap your head around it. Heres that bullseye through central louisiana up to the north, even memphis, tennessee, 5. 9. Biloxi, 2. 5 in addition to what has already fallen throughout the day. The darker pinks and light pinks is where were expecting the bullseye for heavier rain. We dont want to discount the wind but we dont want to highlight it in terms of the big headline for this storm. Were still seeing winds anywhere from 10 up to 30 Miles Per Hour, 47mileperhour wind gusts approximate in some spots. Weve seen pictures of roofs coming off buildings, trees falling on some cars, even a video where we saw a tree fall on a trailer that was overrun with bees. People inside the trailer being stung by the bees and the people rescuing them being stung. Strange stories with this strange storm. Were going to watch these winds pick up in some spots. Baton rouge, 61 Miles Per Hour. Jackson, 28. Hattiesburg, 39. Biloxi, 24. Not humongous numbers. With the sun setting in the next couple of hours, thats bad news once we turn dark throughout the night. Were going to continue to watch this as we go throughout the next couple hours. The flash flooding threat in parts of louisiana, even through the panhandle of florida, southwestern mississippi and up through parts of tennessee. Richard . So michelle, one of the things that i was looking at just doing bad math was looking at you said close to three feet of water in some places all said after this weekend . Is that right . Some spots could see 25 inches, so a little over two feet of water in some spots. In total . In total. Once that rain falls, thats the mess. After that is where you see the destruction. It has to find its way somewhere, whether it sits there and its stagnant, you get the problems with contamination, or it makes its way to the extremesextreme streams, creeks, and rivers. Roads being washed away. You have to think of baton rouge in 2016 where they received 15 inches of rain, 10 to 15 billion had to be poured into the cleanup. Some people are still sitting in fema trailers three years later and going through the same process all over again. So lots of prayers going on. Our heart breaks for them. Thats what well be watching over the next several days. Storm surge, youre saying we still should be concerned about it. But you look at the pictures and the video and you go, that was earlier. Yeah. Storm surge can be very dangerous. Weve seen reports of the levees that were built after katrina being overtopped still. Yes. Weve been watching the core of engineers, they have been doing such a great job looking at all those levees. They worked very hard. I think he opened all of them up except for two, and theyve been doing a really good job with them. Storm surge was a bigger athlth before. When the comes on shore it pushes it like a wall. The winds have switched to the south. Now were concerned about the fresh water coming down. All right. Nbc meteorologist Michelle Grossman, thank you so much. Well touch base with you very, very soon. Lets go to jay bona fide, spokesman for the American Red Cross on the phone with us right now. Jay, what is the latest status report results that you have. The first thing is i was in baton rouge in 2016. I just want to second those feelings that she said about our hearts going out to everyone thats kind of being affected by this storm thats coming now. So far we havent seen anything at those levels but we know this is really just beginning. As far as the red cross, you know, we have multiple evacuation shelters open across the state for people that need a voluntary vaux evacuation. We have longterm shelters for as long as that need is there o to help people recover like we continue to do in baton rouge today. As you are looking at how much your resources and your facilities and your services are tested, how are things going so far . Do you have 10 Capacity Utilization . 15 people where you normally have 100 . Are you ready to handle 100 . Were absolutely ready. It will take a scaleup mode to do that. Were able to do that thanks to the planning we do. We talk about preparedness for the public to be prepared for storms like this, to be resilient. Thats how we do that. We know when responses are going to come, we have our volunteers trained throughout the year. They get those materials that they need. So weve got as much predeployed and prepositioned as we can while keeping ourselves and our workforce, which is 90 volunteers, we want to make sure theyre staying safe through this. And then well be able to move more resources in. The other piece is none of this would be possible without the regular yearlong support of the american public. How are you ready to handle the Power Outages . We have the shelters available if it becomes something people cannot stay in their homes. We also have we are able to provide hot meals to folks as well. Thank you so much, jay bona fide. A alligator moving around there in mississippi. Talking about Power Outages, breaking news here in new york city. A partial blackout in midtown and uptown manhattan. 1. 5 Million People calling it their own. New York City Transit saying they have reports of several subway stations without power throughout manhattan. Heres a photo from moments ago from a subway station, 59th street taken by elizabeth brennen. 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