La. again braces for worst after Delta lashesMexico
Storm expected to gain strength ahead of landfall in the US
CANCUN, Mexico — Hurricane Delta emerged into the Gulf of Mexico on Wednesday and headed toward Louisiana after making landfall just south of the Mexican resort of Cancun, toppling trees and cutting power to residents of the Yucatan peninsula’s resort-studded coast.
The U.S. National Hurricane Center in Miami said the Category 2 hurricane was centered about 65 miles east-northeast of PuertoProgreso, just off the northern edge of the peninsula. Delta had maximum sustained winds of 100 mph, but itwas expected to gain strength again before lashing the Gulf Coast.
Delta, the 25th named storm of the Atlantic’s unprecedented hurricane season, could make landfall, possibly as a Category 3 storm, Friday south ofMorgan City, Louisiana.
“This season has been relentless,” Louisiana Gov. John Bel Edwards said, dusting off what has become his common refrain in 2020 — “Prepare for the worst. Pray for the best.”
The hurricane roared ashore in Mexico early Wednesday with top winds of 110 mph. Officials said the storm forced hundreds of tourists to take refuge in storm shelters. It knocked out power to about 266,000 customers, or about onethird of the total on the Yucatan peninsula.
Therewere no reports of any deaths or injuries, said Carlos Joaquin Gonzalez, the governor of the state of Quintana Roo.
“Fortunately, the most dangerous part of thehurricane has passed,” he said, noting the big problem was downed trees that had knocked out power lines and blocked roadways.
There were reports of some flooding in Cozumel and Playa del Carmen. Overnight emergency calls came in frompeoplewhose windows or doors were broken. and they were taken to shelters, he said.
Louisiana has seen both major strikes and near misses.
The southwest area of the state around Lake Charles, which forecasts show is on Delta’s current trajectory, is still recovering from Category 4Hurricane Laura that made landfall Aug. 27.
Nearly six weeks later, some 5,600 people remain in New Orleans hotels because their homes are too damaged to occupy. Trees, roofs and other debris left in Laura’s wake still sit by roadsides in the Lake Charles area waiting for pickup even as forecasters warned that Delta could be a larger than average storm.
NewOrleans spent a few days last month bracing for Hurricane Sally before it made landfall in Alabama on Sept. 16.
The latest National Hurricane Center forecast anticipated landfall in the sparsely populated area between Cameron and Vermilion Bay. Plywood, batteries and rope were flying off the shelves at the Tiger Island hardware store in Morgan City, which would be close to the center of the storm’s path.
“The other ones didn’t bother me, but this one seems likewe’re the target,” customer Terry Guarisco said as a store employee helped him load his truck with the plywood he planned to use to board up his home for the first time of the hurricane season.
In Sulphur, just across the Calcasieu River from Lake Charles, Ben Reynolds was deciding whether to leave because of Delta. He had to use a generator for power for a week after Hurricane Laura.
“It’s depressing,” Reynolds said. “It’s scary as hell.”
Lynn Nguyen, who works at the TLC Seafood Market in Abbeville, said each storm threat forces fisherman to spend days pulling hundreds of crab traps from thewater or risk losing them.
“It’s been a rough year. The minute you get your traps out and get fishing, it’s time to pull them out again because something is brew
ing out there,” Nguyen said.
On Grand Isle, the Starfish restaurant plans to stay open until it runs out of food Wednesday. Restaurant employee Nicole Fantiny then intends to join the rush of people leaving the barrier island, where the COVID-19 pandemic already devastated the tourism industry.
“The epidemic, the coronavirus, put a lot of people out of work. Now, having to leave once a month for these storms — it’s been taking a lot,” said Fantiny, who tried to quit smoking two weeks ago but gave in and bought a pack of cigarettes Tuesday as Delta rapidly strengthened.
While New Orleans has been mostly spared by the weather and found itself outside Delta’s cone Wednesday, constant vigilance and months as a COVID-19 hot spot have strained the vulnerable city, which has a long hurricane memory due to the scars from 2005’s Hurricane Katrina.
The shift in Delta’s forecast track likely meant no need for a major evacuation, but the city’s emergency officials were on alert.
“We’ve had five near misses. We need to watch this one very, very closely,” New Orleans Emergency Director Collin Arnold said.