9 months ago
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MORGAN CITY, La. (AP) — Hurricane Francine struck Louisiana connected Wednesday evening arsenic a Category 2 tempest that forecasters warned could bring deadly tempest surge, wide flooding and destructive winds connected the bluish U.S. Gulf Coast.
Francine made landfall successful Terrebonne Parish, astir 30 miles (48 kilometers) southwest of Morgan City, the National Hurricane Center announced astatine 4 p.m. CDT. Packing maximum sustained winds adjacent 100 mph (155 kph), the hurricane crashed into a fragile coastal portion that hasn’t afloat recovered from a bid of devastating hurricanes successful 2020 and 2021.
In Morgan City, state stations had enactment plywood connected the windows and moved trash cans inside, with a fewer pumps inactive serving the trickle of cars passing done soon aft dawn.
Retired vessel skipper Pat Simon, 75, and his wife, Ruth, loaded each their possessions successful garbage bags and tied them down successful the backmost of a rented U-Haul pickup motortruck arsenic they evacuated their location adjacent the banks of the Atchafalaya River adjacent Morgan City.
“I don’t deliberation it’s going to beryllium that bad, similar immoderate of the different ones similar Ida and Katrina,” Pat Simon said. “I mean, we’ve had immoderate atrocious ones.”
Francine drew substance from exceedingly lukewarm Gulf of Mexico waters, strengthening from a Category 1 to a Category 2 storm, with winds of 96 to 110 mph (155 to 175 kph), the National Hurricane Center said.
Louisiana Gov. Jeff Landry urged residents to “stay disconnected the roads, enactment location and enactment put.” He said the National Guard was being sent to parishes that could beryllium impacted by Francine. They person with food, water, astir 400 high-water vehicles, astir 100 boats and 50 helicopters to respond to the storm, including for imaginable search-and-rescue operations.
As winds started to importantly summation connected the Louisiana coast, immoderate 17,000 powerfulness outages were reported by precocious Wednesday afternoon, according to online tracking representation poweroutage.us.
Since the mid-19th period 57 hurricanes person tracked implicit oregon made landfall successful Louisiana, according to The Weather Channel. Among them are immoderate of the strongest, costliest and deadliest storms successful U.S. history.
Francine was centered astir 65 miles (105 kilometers) southwest of Morgan City and was moving northeast astatine 17 mph (27 kph) with maximum sustained winds of 100 mph (155 kph), the Miami-based hurricane halfway said.
Morgan City, location to astir 11,500 people, sits connected the banks of the Atchafalaya River successful southbound Louisiana and is surrounded by lakes and marsh. It’s described connected the city’s website arsenic “gateway to the Gulf of Mexico for the shrimping and oilfield industries.”
Larry Doiron, the proprietor of a Chevron presumption conscionable extracurricular of Morgan City limits, said helium had capable state to support pumps operational done the storm.
“We’re the lone spot retired present for the sheriff’s department, the occurrence department. We person gas. All the locals beryllium connected us,” helium said. “We’re going to effort and enactment connected apical of it and hopefully instrumentality attraction of everybody.
President Joe Biden granted an exigency declaration that volition assistance Louisiana unafraid national wealth and logistical assistance from partners specified arsenic the Federal Emergency Management Agency. Both Landry and Mississippi Gov. Tate Reeves besides declared states of emergency, authorizing them to rapidly escaped up resources for catastrophe assistance.
A hurricane informing was successful effect on the Louisiana seashore from Cameron eastbound to Grand Isle, astir 50 miles (80 kilometers) southbound of New Orleans, according to the center. A tempest surge informing stretched from the Mississippi-Alabama borderline to the Alabama-Florida border. Such a informing means life-threatening flooding could occur.
The Mississippi Emergency Management Agency said it distributed much than 100,000 sandbags to the confederate portion of the authorities and the Department of Education reported a fig of schoolhouse territory closures for Wednesday and Thursday.
Bands of dense rainfall were hitting New Orleans Wednesday morning. The city’s historical streetcars that rotation connected South Carrollton Avenue had to easiness past cars that motorists parked adjacent to the tracks connected the grassy median. The median is simply a fewer inches higher than the thoroughfare and drivers sometimes parkland determination to debar thoroughfare flooding.
Francine is the sixth named tempest of the Atlantic hurricane season. Much of Louisiana and Mississippi could get 4 to 8 inches (10 to 20 centimeters) of rain, with the anticipation of 12 inches (30 centimeters) successful immoderate spots, Brad Reinhart, a elder hurricane specializer astatine the hurricane center.
The hurricane halfway said parts of Mississippi, Alabama and the Florida Panhandle were astatine hazard of “considerable” flash and municipality flooding starting Wednesday. The little Mississippi Valley and little Tennessee Valley could acquisition flooding aboriginal successful the week arsenic the soggy remnants of Francine expanse inland.
Francine’s tempest surge connected the Louisiana seashore was forecast to scope arsenic overmuch arsenic 10 feet (3 meters) from Cameron to Port Fourchon and into Vermilion Bay, forecasters said.
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Cline reported from Baton Rouge, Louisiana. Associated Press writers Curt Anderson successful St. Petersburg, Florida, and Kevin McGill successful New Orleans contributed to this story.
