Rain, flooding follow Storm Barry as it spins north from New Orleans

Tropical Storm Barry trudged through northwestern Louisiana on Sunday, dropping up to 15 inches of rain in some places to create life-threatening flood conditions along the Mississippi River. Barry, which made landfall as a category 1 hurricane on Saturday then quickly weakened to a tropical storm, was 15 miles (25 km) east-southeast of Shreveport with maximum sustained winds of 40 miles (65 km) per hour early Sunday afternoon. Fears that Barry might devastate the low-lying city of New Orleans like Hurricane Katrina did in 2005 were unfounded, but rain in the forecast could still cause life-threatening flooding until Monday, the National Weather Service said.