Latest tropical storm causes flooding across southeast Louisiana

Sunday, October 10th 2004, 11:42 am

By: News On 6

NEW ORLEANS (AP) _ Tropical Storm Matthew, the 13th named storm of the 2004 hurricane season, moved ashore into southern Louisiana on Sunday, causing scattered flooding as the area was drenched with heavy rain.

Elsewhere, the 14th named storm, a ``subtropical'' system named Nicole, blew gusty wind across Bermuda.

Along the Gulf of Mexico coast, a tropical storm warning was in effect Sunday from the Alabama-Florida state line westward to Intracoastal City, La., the National Hurricane Center said in Miami.

Steady rain flooded streets and homes in southeastern Louisiana.

A canal levee was breached in Terrebonne Parish, flooding about a dozen homes, said Mart Black, spokesman for the parish's emergency operations center. ``We've got some trees across roads, but things are relatively calm right now,'' Black said.

Up to 5 inches of rain was possible Sunday, the National Weather Service said. On Saturday, Matthew dumped 7.2 inches of rain on Houma.

Tides up to 4 feet above normal caused flooding Saturday in the coastal towns of Montegut, Dulac and Cocodrie, said Michael Deroche, emergency preparedness director in Terrebonne Parish.

Most yards had at least a foot of standing water in towns around Delacroix, about 30 miles southeast of New Orleans, said Larry J. Ingargiola, chief of emergency preparedness.

By 7 a.m. Sunday, Matthew's poorly defined center was located near Houma, about 60 miles southwest of New Orleans, with sustained wind of 40 mph. Tropical storm-force wind of at least 39 mph extended up to 115 miles out from the center. It was moving toward the north-northeast at about 11 mph.

At 5 a.m. EDT, Nicole was centered was about 80 miles west-southwest of Bermuda. It didn't meet the strict definition of a tropical storm but was classified a subtropical storm with outlying bands of 45 mph wind.

``The winds are spread out in a band well removed from the center,'' said Richard Pasch, hurricane specialist at the National Hurricane Center. ``We don't think this one has much potential to become a tropical storm.''

Nicole was expected to move northward. Nantucket and Cape Cod in Massachusetts and the coasts of Maine, New Brunswick and Nova Scotia could feel its outer effects by the middle of the week, the hurricane center said.

The hurricane season runs from June 1 to Nov. 30.