‘This is not a bad dream’ New hurricane menaces Louisiana
ABBEVILLE, La. — Louisiana residents confronting the menace of a new hurricane weeks after one battered parts of the state got stark warnings Thursday to brace for winds that could turn still-uncollected debris into dangerous missiles and again knock out power to thousands.
Forecasts showed Delta had strengthened back into a Category 3 hurricane as it bore down on the state carrying winds of up to 115 mph and the potential to deliver a storm surge of up to 11 feet when it arrives on Friday evening.
The projected path included the southwest area of Louisiana where Category 4 Hurricane Laura made landfall less than two months ago. Laura has been blamed for more than 30 deaths.
The mayor of Lakes Charles, where thousands of residents remain without shelter following the earlier hurricane, told residents that even if their homes survived Laura, they shouldn’t assume that would be the case with Delta.
“This is not a bad dream. It’s not a test run. These are the cards that we have been dealt,” Nic Hunter said in a Facebook video. He added, “I know that we’ve been through a lot, and I know that we’re tired. But we have a job to do right now, and that job is to keep ourselves safe.”
Residents in coastal towns appeared to be taking the latest threat seriously. Boarded windows and largely empty streets made New Iberia in south-central Louisiana look like a ghost town Thursday evening.
At least five southwest Louisiana parishes that were hit hard by Laura in August were under mandatory evacuations as of midday Thursday.
Parish and local governments all along the coast issued a patchwork of mandatory or voluntary evacuation orders, most focused on low-lying areas subject to flooding or on residents with special medical needs who might suffer in prolonged
power outages.
Huge piles of debris caused by Laura’s wrath stretched along roadways in Bell City, southeast of Lake Charles. Some of the piles were more than 6 feet high and were as long as 75 feet. Concerns mounted that Delta’s arrival would cause the debris to become airborne and turn into deadly projectiles.
In Cameron Parish, power poles along Highway 27 in a desolate stretch of marsh were all either broken and leaning — none appeared to have been repaired since the August storm.
Louisiana Gov. John Bel Edwards said President Donald Trump approved his request to declare a federal emergency, which frees up federal resources.
The most recent forecast for Hurricane Delta has the storm making landfall “almost precisely” where Hurricane Laura struck — a region where homes and electrical infrastructure are still damaged, Edwards said in a radio interview.
“And we’ve got people who are very tired,” the governor said.