Francine did not pose a particularly severe test of the New Orleans region's ability to handle stormwater, but the results were not reassuring.

For a city that routinely sees flooding, New Orleans residents and business owners were taken aback by the intense rains of Hurricane Francine, which still was at Category 1 strength when it passed over the city Wednesday night.

Hurricane Francine threatened New Orleans and the wider Gulf Coast as far east as the Alabama and Florida border on Wednesday, shutting down a quarter of oil and gas production in the Gulf while parishes across Louisiana issued evacuation orders.