00:00We do have team coverage of Tropical Storm Bertha right now.
00:02We want to get to the latest from AccuWeather correspondent Bill Waddell
00:06joining us live from New Orleans with the latest on impact in the Big Easy.
00:11And Bill, I've been pretty impressed by the wave action behind you here
00:14as Lake Pontchartrain is blowing in from north to south.
00:20Hey, that's right, Jeff.
00:21Yeah, Lake Pontchartrain really giving us the best taste of the impact from Bertha.
00:25It's wide open out here, so that's why we're really feeling the wind.
00:28Our last gust I recorded was about 20, 25-mile-an-hour wind gust.
00:33And it's not really the rain causing all of the flooding issues here on Lakeshore Drive.
00:38It's just all of the water being pushed in by Bertha coming up and over the Seawall and crashing in.
00:44I mean, take a look at the video that we sent in.
00:47Whoa, wind's really picking up.
00:48Take a look at the video we just sent in a short time ago.
00:51People here are telling us that this is a common sight when you've got storms
00:55blowing into the New Orleans area up here at Lake Pontchartrain.
00:58But some of the locals here were even impressed just to see how much water was being moved in
01:03and the drains have been struggling to keep up.
01:07We met Crystal.
01:08She tells us she actually had the day off of work today.
01:11Some businesses did shut down as a precaution.
01:14And, you know, this is truly one of the impacts.
01:18People who have lived here in the New Orleans area, if they just lived here in the past two years,
01:21they haven't felt the true force of a strong storm.
01:26And she's just encouraging new residents who've moved down to the coast in the past two years.
01:30You know, don't let your guard down just by seeing the impact from Bertha.
01:33Every storm is different.
01:35They have different risks.
01:35And everyone should be prepared.
01:39I suggest being very prepared.
01:42Your food, your water, your plan to get out.
01:47Listen to your locals and your neighbors.
01:51They've been through this before.
01:52They've been through almost any kind of storm.
01:56You know, if you see them getting nervous, then you should be extra nervous.
02:04Yeah, so that's just one of the things neighbors out here, people are saying that, you know,
02:08just to treat these storms seriously, you can see here Lakeshore Drive is blocked off
02:13because all of the water that's being pushed in off of Lake Pontchartrain.
02:18So officials just telling people, you know, take it easy if you can, stay off these roads.
02:22They don't want anybody getting too close to the sidewalks or near the water jet.
02:26But, again, just getting a taste of how the Bertha has made landfall.
02:28These are some of the impacts that we're seeing here on the north side of New Orleans.
02:32All right.
02:33Pretty decent visuals there, Bill.
02:35Thanks for showing us that there from Lake Pontchartrain on the north side of New Orleans.
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