Gulf Coast braces for Hurricane Nate

Hurricane Nate pelted the central Gulf Coast with wind and rain Saturday as the fast-moving storm headed for an evening landfall somewhere along the coasts of southeastern Louisiana or Mississippi, threatening to inundate homes and businesses in vulnerable low-lying areas.

Nate was expected to pass to the east of New Orleans, sparing the city its most ferocious winds and storm surge. Cities along the Mississippi coast such as Gulfport and Biloxi were on high alert. Rain began falling on the region Saturday and forecasters called for 3 to 6 inches with as much as 10 inches in some isolated places.

Nate was a Category 1 storm with maximum winds of 90 mph. Forecasters said it’s possible that it could strengthen to a Category 2 with winds of at least 96 mph before it makes landfall.

“It’s coming,” Larry Bertron said as he and his wife prepared to leave their home in the Braithwaite community of vulnerable Plaquemines Parish in southeast Louisiana. The hurricane veterans lost one home to Hurricane Katrina in 2005 and were leaving the home they rebuilt after Hurricane Isaac in 2012.

“If it floods again, this will be it. I can’t live on promises,” said Bertron, who complained that local officials haven’t done enough to improve area levees.

Governors in Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama declared states of emergency. The three states have been mostly spared during this hectic hurricane season.

“This is the worst hurricane that has impacted Mississippi since Hurricane Katrina,” Mississippi Emergency Management Director Lee Smithson said Saturday. “Everyone needs to understand that, that this is a significantly dangerous situation.”

Louisiana Gov. John Bel Edwards urged residents to make final preparations quickly and stressed that Nate will bring the possibility of storm surge reaching up to 11 feet in some coastal areas. The storm is moving fast at 23 mph.

“It’s going to hit and move through our area at a relatively fast rate, limiting the amount of time it’s going to drop rain,” Edwards said. “But this is a very dangerous storm nonetheless.”

Streets in low-lying areas of Louisiana were already flooded. Places outside of levee protections were under mandatory evacuation orders and shelters opened there.

Some people worried about New Orleans’ pumping system, which had problems during a heavy thunderstorm on Aug. 5. The deluge exposed system weaknesses — including the failure of some pumps and power-generating turbines — and caused homes and businesses to flood. So far, the pumping system hasn’t had any problems, the governor said.

On Alabama’s Dauphin Island, water washed over the road Saturday on the island’s low-lying west end, said Mayor Jeff Collier. The storm was projected to bring storm surges from seven to 11 feet near the Alabama-Mississippi state line. Some of the biggest impacts could be at the top of funnel-shaped Mobile Bay.

The window for preparing “is quickly closing,” Alabama Emergency Management Agency Director Brian Hastings said.

Florida Gov. Rick Scott warned residents of the Panhandle to prepare for Nate’s impact.

The governor said Saturday that residents in evacuation zones in Escambia and Santa Rosa counties should heed the warnings and seek safe shelter. He said shelters will be available to people who have nowhere else to go.

JOHN FITZHUGH — THE SUN HERALD VIA AP Brenda Kent jumps on her boat as she and her husband leave the Biloxi Small Craft Harbor in Biloxi, Miss., on Friday to take the boat up river in advance of Tropical Storm Nate. Gulf Coast residents were bracing Friday for a fast-moving blast of wind,...