Dry out today; torrents may return Thursday

Staff and wire
St. Mary Parish may get today to dry out after Tuesday’s flash flooding. But don’t count on Thursday.
Rain, possibly heavy rain, is back in the forecast and is likely to stay there until Monday, said Meteorologist Donald Jones of the National Weather Service in Lake Charles.
Tuesday’s rain led to isolated flooding that helped St. Mary Parish school officials decid to end classes at 1:30 p.m.
In Berwick, late-morning rainfall led to the standing water and the closure of Hebert Street, Tournament Boulevard, Jones Street, Palmer Street and Hogan Street. Bayou Vista also experienced street flooding.
But the parish’s east end wasn’t the hardest hit. As gremlins would have it, the rain gauges at the Patterson and New Iberia airports were both out of action Tuesday. Jones said a local cooperating observer measured 1.5 inches of rain in Morgan City. Radar-based estimates, which Jones said are viewed with a touch of skepticism, measured 1.7 inches.
“It seems that the brunt of the flooding fell on Franklin and on up to the northwest,” Jones said.
Radar estimates said 7 to 8 inches of rain fell in the area between Franklin and Jeanerette.
Morgan City has remained relatively dry so far today and may stay that way, Jones said.
“Unfortunately, tomorrow’s going to be a different story,” he said.
There’s a 70 percent chance of rain Thursday. The rain may be as heavy as 1 to 3 inches per hour, Jones said.
At least one death has been attributed to Tuesday’s storms.
The Lafourche Parish Sheriff’s Office says a 3-year-old child playing in his back yard fell into a drainage canal and was swept away by the strong current brought on by constant downpours in the area.
Sheriff Craig Webre says it happened about 1:20 p.m. Tuesday in the Raceland community.
Deputies say the child’s caretaker went outside to get the toddler and upon calling him, the child ran and fell into the ditch.
Webre says about 15 minutes after he fell, the child’s father found him among weeds about 75 yards downstream.
Attempts to revive him were unsuccessful.