NEW ORLEANS: Tropical Storm Lee crawled onto southern Louisiana's coast on Sunday as New Orleans prepared for one of the biggest tests of its flood defences since Hurricane Katrina devastated the city in 2005.

The National Hurricane Center said Lee's center was about 200 km west-southwest of New Orleans, with maximum sustained winds of 72 kph at around 8 am.

Winds were expected to weaken gradually in the next couple of days and up to 20 inches (51 cm) of rain was expected to fall on southeast Louisiana, the Miami-based center said. In New Orleans, the storm recalled Hurricane Katrina, which flooded 80% of the city, killed 1,500 people and caused over $80 billion in damage to the city.