Hurricane Delta enters Gulf after lashing Mexico
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 Delta had weakened to a Category 1 storm by late afternoon, with maximum sustained winds of 85 mph, but it was expected to gain strengthen again before lashing the U.S. Gulf coast. It was centered just off the northern edge of the peninsula and heading northwest at 17 mph.
Delta could make landees, fall, possibly as a Category 3 storm, sometime Friday south of Morgan City, Louisiana.
The hurricane came ashore in Mexico around 5:30 a.m. Wednesday with top winds of 110 mph. Officials said it caused no deaths or injuries, but did force 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.
There were 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 the hurricane has passed,” Joaquin Gonzalez said, noting the big problem was downed trees that had knocked out power lines and blocked
Soldiers survey damage from Hurricane Delta in Cancun, Mexico, Wednesday. Delta could make landfall, possibly as a Category 3 storm, sometime Friday near Morgan City, La.
roadways.
People in Louisiana or Mississippi should prepare now for hurricane-force winds to begin hitting their coastlines on Friday, the hurricane center advised.
Louisiana Gov. John Bel Edwards said Delta was expected to make landfall there Friday night or Saturday morning and the entire state is in the storm’s possible path. State and local officials in coastal areas were shoring up lev
sandbagging and taking other protections measures, he said.
Louisiana is still recovering from Hurricane Laura, which ravaged the southwestern region as it roared ashore as a Category 4 storm in August. More than 6,600 Laura evacuees remain in hotels around the state, mainly in New Orleans, because their homes are too heavily damaged to return.