NEW ORLEANS — The region could see two to four inches of rain over the coming days. That rain could help with the burning marsh fire in New Orleans East.
It could also bring some welcome relief for homeowners with plants.
The marsh fire on private property in New Orleans East has been burning for weeks now. Pon Dixson with Bayou Sauvage National Urban Wildlife Refuge told WWL-TV that the dry weather is contributing to the fire.
Dixson said, "That will help the suppression efforts that will put some rainfall on there and soak the ground to assist with the suppression of the fire."
The fire is burning underground in an area fire trucks can't get close to, so pumps have been brought in to pump tens of thousands of gallons of water per minute onto the land from nearby canals.
"The last time I looked, we had water over about 30% of the 200 acres that had burned," Dixson says the rain will help. "Last time we had a fire similar to this we had like 18 inches of rain fall on it and it still didn't put it out. Each scenario is different."
Daniel Milojevic with Milo Gardens says homeowners with low-lying yards should keep an eye on things, saying, "Because it has been so dry it might be a little harder for the ground to absorb the water, so it might take a little bit longer to drain in certain areas."
He says with the leaves now falling, you should check your home catch basins and suggest those with potted plants monitor how much water they're getting during heavy rains.
"If you have any potted plants in low-lying areas, maybe move them so they don't get stuck in standing water."
WWL-TV Meteorologist Alexandra Cranford says the last heavy rain we saw was on October 11, and then we only saw an inch of rain.
"We're down more than two feet of rain this year, we're at about half of our normal this time of year, so this is not going to completely erase everything that has happened with our drought conditions," Cranford said. "We'll get a little bit rain here and there, we've had that over the last month or two, but overall this is going to be the first big rain event we've had for some time, and even it's a few inches in a few spots, even that's going to be helpful."
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