Ali Reid recaps time in New Orleans covering Francine

AccuWeather's Ali Reid takes a look back at this week covering Francine from Louisiana.

Transcript

00:00There was no time to waste after landing in New Orleans.

00:03Within an hour of touchdown, my photographer Mike and I headed straight to Laplace, Louisiana,

00:08where residents there were hard at work filling sandbags.

00:12The threat of Hurricane Francine loomed large, and people were understandably nervous.

00:17I think we're a little worried. We have some PTSD from Hurricane Ida,

00:21Isaac, so we know that we have to be well prepared, you know, for what's to come.

00:25People like Victoria knew firsthand what storms like this could bring,

00:28and they weren't taking any chances.

00:31Later that evening, we made our way to Bourbon Street,

00:33finding tourists who had decided to ride out the storm.

00:36A lot of people are saying they're going to be hunkering down.

00:39Hopefully everybody's safe and it just blows over.

00:41Despite the warnings, they and many others were determined to stick around.

00:46The following morning, we were live from the French Quarter,

00:48finding locals getting in their final jogs before having to hunker down.

00:52I've seen a couple. I think we know to get it in while we can.

00:57We spent the rest of the morning in Lafitte,

00:59where the community there had been working tirelessly

01:02to put up a makeshift levee wall with sandbags.

01:05As Francine made landfall, it worked its way to New Orleans.

01:09Rain poured and wind gusts swept across the region,

01:13including in Kenner, where we saw incredible storm surge from Lake Pontchartrain.

01:18Landfall we know happened just over three hours ago,

01:21but now the thick of it has made its way to New Orleans and the surrounding areas.

01:26Thursday morning was all about the aftermath.

01:29We saw flash flood damage across the area,

01:32streets that had turned into rivers, with carps swimming through neighborhoods.

01:37Back in Laplace, where our coverage began, floodwaters had risen dramatically.

01:42We're told most people in these homes here were safely evacuated the night before.

01:47It was a fast-paced few days in New Orleans.

01:50For many, Francine was a reminder of what it means to prepare,

01:54to endure, and ultimately to rebuild.