Nicholas expected to bring more rain

What’s left of Hurricane Nicholas was expected to bring up to 2 inches of rain to east St. Mary on Wednesday while threatening areas hit hard by Hurricane Ida with even heavier rain.
Nicholas was downgraded to a tropical depression overnight but could still dump 5-10 inches of rain in areas stretching from Louisiana into Alabama, the National Hurricane Center said. The center warned of the potential for life-threatening flooding across coastal portions of the Deep South.
At last report Tuesday night, the center of the depression was near Port Arthur, Texas, and expected to head east Wednesday.
In St. Mary, a coastal flood advisory and a flash flood watch remain in effect Wednesday.
The area has a 70% chance of storms each day into the weekend. In the nighttime hours, the chance of storms will be 40-50%.
St. Mary schools closed at midday Tuesday and were scheduled to resume a normal schedule Wednesday.
In Houma and Baton Rouge, up to 2 inches of rain were expected Wednesday. New Orleans is expecting up to 3 inches.
The threat of additional flooding could add even more misery for people in the path of Hurricane Ida.
About 76,000 Louisiana utility customers were still without power Wednesday morning, 2½ weeks after Ida made landfall. About half the black-out customers are in Terrebonne and Lafourche, according to the poweroutage.us website.
At the peak, more than 1 million homes and businesses lost power.
About 13,500 power outages from Nicholas were reported Tuesday afternoon by Gov. John Bel Edwards at a press conference.
“The heaviest rain is now expected to fall in the area most devastated by Ida,” Edwards said. Many people in the most affected zones have to make adequate repairs to their homes, he said.
The death toll from Ida is now at 29 in Louisiana, Edwards said.
They include 13 people who died of heat-related causes, the latest a 70-year-old St. Tammany Parish man. Another six have died from carbon monoxide poisoning, the governor said.
The misuse of generators in enclosed spaces or near windows or vents has become a regular killer during natural disasters that result in power outages.