Tropical Storm Lee ashore, several inches of rain expected in Metro Atlanta

ATLANTA -- The center of Tropical Storm Lee made landfall Sunday on the Louisiana coast, bringing up to a foot of rain, spinoff toadoes and fears of inland flash flooding to the Deep South and beyond.

By Sunday, at least 6 to 10 inches of rain had fallen in some spots along the Louisiana and Mississippi coasts, and the National Weather Service waed there was a threat of extensive flooding and flash floods because of the storm's slow, meandering jog inland.

Georgia will begin to feel the storm's effect Sunday evening.

"For us, widespread or heavy rain will fall beginning later (Sunday) and particularly (Monday) and somewhat into Tuesday," Severe Weather Team 2 meteorologist Brad Nitz said.

"A flash flood watch goes into effect later tonight, continues through Tuesday moing, generally speaking, I expect between three and five inches of rainfall across metro Atlanta and north Georgia with some isolated locations, the areas that get hardest hit, perhaps as much as seven inches of rain," Nitz continued.

The greatest chance for seven inches of rain is north of metro Atlanta, Nitz noted.

At midday Sunday, there were scattered toado waings for spinoff twisters from Lee.

A possible toado struck southe Mobile County in Alabama, snapping oak limbs, knocking out power and damaging at least one home. No injuries were reported, but the blast awoke Frank Ledbetter and ripped up the sign for his art gallery.

"It just got louder and louder and louder. I woke my wife up and said, `It's a toado.' We just dove into the closet in the bedroom," he said. "It was crazy."

"Anytime you have a landfall tropical storm or hurricane, you typically do see some isolated small toadoes closer to the center of circulation," Nitz said.

But Nitz noted, the Atlanta area is no-where near the landfall center of that circulation.

"There's a slight risk of an isolated toado late (Monday)," Nitz said.

Joe Zirlott was working the oveight shift at a Citgo Speedy Mart in the Bayley's Coer community when trash cans started flying, a sign blew away, the front door popped open and the lights went out.

"Everything got real hairy for about 10 minutes, then it eased up a little," he said.

Even before Lee swept ashore, there were scattered instances of water entering low-lying homes and businesses in Louisiana's bayou country -- a region of fast-eroding wetlands long vulnerable to hurricanes and tropical storms. The storm prompted evacuations in bayou towns such as Jean Lafitte. Thousands were without power.

Late Saturday, lifelong Jean Lafitte resident Brad Zinet was riding out the storm in his mobile home mounted on pilings. He was hoping it wouldn't take on water.

"We got nowhere to go. We're just getting everything put up out of the way and hope for the best," said the 31-year-old plumber.

"This is a way of life around here," he added. "You just do the best you can and ride it out."

In New Orleans, sporadic downpours caused some street flooding Saturday, but pumps were sucking up the water and sending it into Lake Pontchartrain. Officials said the levees were doing their job in the city that is still recovering from the deadly Hurricane Katrina a half decade ago.

New Orleans Mayor Mitch Landrieu waed residents not to let their guard down, saying: "We're not out of the woods. Don't go to sleep on this storm."

In Mississippi, Harrison County officials said travel on U.S. Highway 90 had become hazardous because winds from Lee have pushed sand from beach onto the eastbound lanes and the rain has created a situation where drivers cannot see the roadway.

"This layer of sand has gotten up on the highway and you can't determine if you're on the road, up on the median or the curb," said emergency director Rupert Lacy.

Flooding in Hancock County left several roadways impassable, and the rain on parts of Interstate 10 at times has been so heavy that visibility was down to only a few feet.

Wet and windy conditions hovered over Alabama's Dauphin Island, a barrier island in the Gulf, but conditions weren't too threatening, Mayor Jeff Collier said. High surf caused some roads to flood, but all were still passable Saturday afteoon.

Precautions were taken to secure anything that could be swept away by wind or waves, and Labor Day concerts and other festivities were canceled.

"The weekend is literally a wash," Collier said. "It's really a shame that it happened on a holiday weekend."