Francine strengthens to a hurricane and moves toward the Louisiana coast: residents prepare for landfall
Kyiv • UNN
Tropical Storm Frances has strengthened to a Category 1 hurricane as it moves toward the Louisiana coast. It is expected to make landfall on Wednesday with strong winds and a storm surge of up to 3 meters.
Francine turned into a hurricane on Tuesday evening, moving to the south of Louisiana in the United States, strengthening over the extremely warm waters of the Gulf of Mexico, and those in possible danger rushed to complete preparations for the storm, stocking up on the necessary, UNN writes with reference to AP.
Details
Residents, especially in southern Louisiana, have a 24-hour window to "batten down the hatches," warned state Governor Jeff Landrieu at noon, while Francine was still a tropical storm.
Having just become a Category 1 hurricane, Francine was accompanied by sustained winds of 120 km/h, and forecasters warned that it was expected to make landfall on the Louisiana coast on Wednesday afternoon or evening local time with potentially life-threatening storm surge and damaging winds - possibly even as a Category 2 storm with winds of 155 to 175 km/h.
By 8 p.m. local time on Tuesday, Francine was located about 560 kilometers southwest of Morgan City, Louisiana, and was moving northeast at 17 km/h, according to the National Hurricane Watch Center in Miami.
According to the center, a hurricane warning was issued along the Louisiana coast from Cameron east to Grand Isle, about 80 kilometers south of New Orleans. A storm surge warning was issued from the Mississippi-Alabama border to the Alabama-Florida border. This warning means that there is a possibility of life-threatening flooding.
In downtown New Orleans this afternoon, cars and trucks reportedly lined up to pick up sandbags, which people hope will protect their homes from possible flooding.
Landrieu said that the Louisiana National Guard is deploying to areas that may be affected by Francine.
Brad Reinhart, a senior hurricane specialist at the Hurricane Center, indicated that much of Louisiana and Mississippi could see 10-20 cm of rain by Friday morning, with a possibility of 30 centimeters. This heavy rain could also cause significant flash flooding and urban flooding.
The Hurricane Center said that eastern Mississippi and especially coastal parts of Mississippi, Alabama and the Florida Panhandle are at risk of "significant" flooding and urban flooding starting Wednesday. Flooding is also "likely" further inland, in the lower Mississippi Valley and lower Tennessee Valley from Wednesday through Friday, as Francine moves inland, it said.
According to forecasters, the storm surge of Francine on the Louisiana coast can reach 3 meters from Cameron to Port Fourchon and Vermilion Bay.
Addendum
Francine is the sixth storm with the name in the Atlantic hurricane season.
