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(CNN) — Strong northbound winds from Hurricane Laura appeared to reverse the flow of many waterways along Louisiana’s Gulf of Mexico coast, including the Mississippi River, as it neared land.
Laura made landfall as a Category 4 storm early Thursday near the Texas state line, ripping off roofs, damaging buildings and cutting power for hundreds of thousands of people.
Rivers normally flow into the Gulf, but strong winds from Laura swept the upper layer of water upstream away from the Gulf.
Chris Dier captured time-lapse video of the phenomenon Wednesday afternoon from Arabi, a downstream neighborhood in New Orleans’ Lower Ninth Ward and about 20 miles east of where Laura made landfall.
Hurricane Laura is forcing the Mississippi to follow north instead of south. Barges are now having to fight these tides as they go downriver. Surreal. pic.twitter.com/sZGDRouWil
– Chris Dier (@chrisdier) August 26, 2020
In the tweeted video, a Gulf-bound barge can be seen fighting the flow of water inland.
Winds in Arabi and across southern Louisiana blew in tropical storm force throughout Wednesday and Thursday morning as Laura passed west. These winds pushed water from the surface into the river, as seen in the video, CNN Weather experts said.
River gauges maintained by the United States Geological Survey and the Army Corps of Engineers showed that the main stream of the river slowed during this time, probably because surface water was flowing in the opposite direction, along with the wind, they said.
The Mississippi River is the second longest river in North America, stretching for about 3,700 km. It begins at Lake Itasca in Minnesota and empties into the Gulf of Mexico.
The flow of the Mississippi River has been completely reversed in the past, not just in the upper layer.
In 2005, during Hurricane Katrina, the water changed course, according to CNN affiliate WLBT. And in 2012, strong winds and storm surge from Hurricane Isaac caused the river to flow backward for nearly 24 hours, according to the United States Geological Survey.
CNN meteorologists Brandon Miller and Judson Jones contributed to this report.
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