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A flash flood warning for parts of the New Orleans area expired at 10:45 a.m. Sunday, setting the stage for the metro area to dry out and allow some area streets to drain.

The warning area included New Orleans, Marrero, Kenner, Metairie, River Ridge, Waggaman, Ama, Luling and New Sarpy.

Multiple bands of severe weather inundated the New Orleans area beginning late Saturday night and into Sunday morning. 

Forecasters warned of “torrential rainfall” associated with the storms, which prompted multiple weather alerts for Orleans, Jefferson and surrounding parishes, including two flash flood warnings and a severe thunderstorm warning. 

Both Orleans and Jefferson officials said pumps were working at capacity with no major outages to report.

An initial flood warning went into effect about 10:47 p.m. and expired about 2:45 a.m. as the initial round of thunderstorms hit. About 1 to 2 inches of rain per hour hit the area during that period, forecasters said. 

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A severe thunderstorm warning was later issued about 2:10 a.m. and was set to expire at 5:15 a.m., though heavy storms with near-constant lightning continued to swamp the area as late as 6 a.m. A second flash flood warning for Orleans and Jefferson parishes was put into effect about 5:30 a.m. and was set to expire about 8:30 a.m. as storms dropping up to 2 inches of rain per hour continued to impact that areas. 

As much as 4 inches of rain was expected to hit the New Orleans area Sunday morning and into the afternoon, forecasters predicted about 4 a.m. The weather was not expected to impact the area by Monday.

WWL-TV reported that Louis Armstrong New Orleans airport and downtown New Orleans each saw more than three inches of rain in about an hour.

Dozens of incidents of street flooding had been reported as of 6 a.m., according to the city’s streetwise app, with the largest portion scattered across the Lower Garden District, Central Business District and Central City. 

Residents with stranded vehicles in the middle of the roadway or an intersection are expected to move their vehicles to the side of the road, preferably a parking lane, immediately.

To reopen traffic flow, the Department of Public Works may have to “courtesy tow” vehicles, city officials said. Vehicles will be towed to the nearest area of safety if the vehicle owner is present. If not, DPW will two the vehicle to the city’s Auto Pound lot at 400 North Claiborne Ave. Vehicle owners can present identification at the Auto Pound to retrieve their vehicle free of charge.

As many as 14 streets across the city were reported as closed, officials said.  See list below (via WWL-TV). 

• N. Carrollton at I-10
• CIty Park Ave. at I-10
• Canal Blvd. at Pontalba St.
• Marconi Dr. at I-610
• St. Bernard Ave at Florida Ave.
• Paris Ave. at I-610
• Gentilly at I-610
• Broad St. at Florida Ave
• Franklin Ave at I-10
• Gentilly at Chef Menteur
• Press Dr. at Leon C. SImon
• Dowman at Lakeshore
• Gen. DeGaulle at Woodland
• Gen. DeGaulle at WestBank Expressway

Officials began re-opening roadways and underpasses that were closed off due to flooding to regular traffic around 10:30 a.m. as flood waters began to recede, the NOPD said.

Just before noon, city officials said standing water remained at the following locations: Franklin Avenue and I-610; Elizardi Boulevard and Vespasian Street; Spain and Law Streets.

Police units will remain on scene at locations where there is still standing water until waters have receded to levels where traffic can safely pass.

Images of street flooding began cropping us across social media Sunday morning as rain continued to pound the area. New Orleans announced about 6 a.m. that parking restrictions had been lifted, allowing for residents to move vehicles onto neutral ground and sidewalks until further notice.