Hurricane Zeta smashes Louisiana as 110mph gales pummel Gulf Coast in record fifth named storm to hit state this season
HURRICANE Zeta barreled into Louisiana on Wednesday as the storm heads toward New Orleans, bringing with it 9feet of sea water and raging winds.
The Category 2 hurricane is expected to unleash 74mph winds in southern Louisiana and recorded top sustained winds of 110mph by 6pm.
By Wednesday afternoon, Zeta’s top winds had risen to just shy of a major Category 3 storm, according to the National Hurricane Center.
A hurricane warning has been issued for Morgan City, Louisiana to the Mississippi/Alabama border.
The warning also includes metropolitan New Orleans, where rain doused the French Quarter and steams of water ran off the roofs.
Mayor LaToya Cantrell said the city’s iconic streetcars had been shut down, and City Hall closed.
Tropical storm warnings were issued for as far as the north Georgia mountains – a highly unusual alert for the region.
Hurricane-force winds of 74mph or greater are expected to pummel the New Orleans metro area and southern Mississippi for much of Wednesday evening, according to The Weather Channel.
Residents on the northern Gulf Coast will experience the most structural damage and should prepare for downed trees and power outages, the network said.
The deteriorating weather prompted early voting sites to close for hours in the western Florida Panhandle.
In Mississippi, the city of Pass Christian ordered all boats out of the harbor, and Dauphin Island, Alabama, shut off water and sewer service in areas that typically are swamped in storms.
Large school systems in Georgia and South Carolina planned to close Thursday.
Zeta made landfall near Cocodrie, Louisiana, about 65 southwest of New Orleans at 4pm Central time.
It was expected to make a second landfall along the Mississippi coast on Wednesday evening before continuing across the Southeastern and Eastern US to dump up to six inches of rain on Thursday.
Louisiana Gov John Bel Edwards asked President Donald Trump for a disaster declaration, which was approved ahead of the storm on Tuesday night.
Zeta is the 27th named storm of what has shaped up to be a devastating Atlantic hurricane season with over a month left until it’s over.
As the 11th storm to make landfall in the continental US, Zeta will set a record higher than the nine storms that hit more than a century ago in 1916.
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Gulf Coast residents are wondering if or when they’ll get a reprieve from the wild weather.
“I’m physically and mentally tired,” a distraught Yolanda Lockett told the Associated Press outside her New Orleans hotel.
Lockett hails from Lake Charles and is one of about 3,600 evacuees from Laura and Delta still sheltering.