Hurricane Harvey Louisiana: Calcasieu Parish Schools Forced To Close; Residents Evacuated

LAKE CHARLES, LA — Tropical Storm Harvey forced Calcasieu Parish public schools and facilities to close Tuesday, and they'll be closed Wednesday as well.

About 500 people were evacuated overnight in Calcasieu Parish, authorities said. It's southwest Louisiana's most populous parish.

The Calcasieu Parish School Board's website said Harvey is "moving directly into our area tomorrow."

"The safety of students, faculty, and staff remains our priority," the website said. "We will continue to make day-by-day decisions and provide updates by 5 p.m. daily via our website, social media sites, and local media agencies." (For more information on Harvey and other Louisiana stories, subscribe to Patch to receive daily newsletters and breaking news alerts. If you have an iPhone, click here to get the free Patch iPhone app.)

Harvey will likely come ashore Wednesday in Cameron Parish around noon, National Weather Service meteorologist Roger Erickson said. An additional 4 to 8 inches of rain is likely across southwest Louisiana, he said. Forecasters project gusts up to 45 mph in coastal areas and up to 35 mph in Lake Charles and along the Interstate 10 corridor.

Tuesday was the 12th anniversary of the landfall of the devastating Hurricane Katrina. Harvey's impact in Louisiana was nothing compared to the toll in Texas, but a heavy band of rainfall Monday night proved too much for some Lake Charles neighborhoods, pushing water into houses that local residents said they'd never seen flood. Hundreds of people were forced to evacuate from a neighborhood in Lake Charles, sometimes in chest-deep water.

Watch: Some Of The Many Ways You Can Help Harvey Victims

Forecasters also project heavy rain running east from New Orleans to Pensacola along the Gulf Coast.

Erickson warned that some coastal rivers won't be able to drain rains effectively because Harvey's winds are pushing storm surge into coastal waters, aggravating flooding in places that have already received more than 20 inches of rain.

UPDATE: All Calcasieu Parish School Board schools and facilities will be closed Tuesday, August 29. pic.twitter.com/Ag9lfrAwjI
— CPSB (@CPSBschools) August 28, 2017

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The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Photo credit: Calcasieu Parish School Board