Delta is moving ashore
Hurricane lashes Louisiana coast; many lose power
Hurricane Delta’s eye started coming ashore in southwestern Louisiana on Friday evening, with 100 mph winds and lifethreatening storm surge, according to an update from the National Hurricane Center.
At Freshwater Canal Locks in Louisiana, a water level gauge reported storm surge inundation of over 7 feet above ground level, the center said.
Lake Charles, a few miles west of the scheduled landfall, was getting heavy rain and 60 mph wind gusts late Friday afternoon. Port Arthur, Texas, even farther west of the expected landfall, reported 5 inches of rain and wind gusts of 63 mph.
Entergy, the Louisiana electric company, estimated about 27,000 of its customers were without power Friday afternoon, according to The Weather Channel. In Texas, west of Delta’s projected landfall, about 30,000 customers were without electricity, the channel reported.
Early Friday morning, Lake Charles police reported three issues with 18-wheelers, two of which overturned due to high winds and the other jackknifed, blocking all lanes. Traffic had to be diverted, Anderson said.
Delta remains a relatively fast-moving storm. The NHC said Delta is “expected to weaken to a tropical storm (Friday) tonight and to a tropical depression by Saturday afternoon or evening.”
Regardless, heavy rain and a storm surge up to 11 feet are expected along portions of the northern Gulf Coast on Friday.
“The combination of a dangerous storm surge and the tide will cause normally dry areas near the coast to be flooded by rising waters moving inland from the shoreline,” the hurricane center said Friday morning.
Delta’s threatening size is causing a large risk of life-threatening storm surge along the Gulf Coast where the tide will cause normally dry areas to be flooded by rising waters moving inland as high as 7 to 11 feet from the Rockefeller Wildlife Refuge to Morgan City, La.
Delta is expected to inundate the region with up to 10 inches of rain and isolated areas seeing as much as 15 inches in southwest and south central Louisiana.