25 dead as Nate poses threat to US central Gulf Coast
MANAGUA: Hurricane Nate may strengthen on Saturday, threatening to hit the US central Gulf Coast with strong winds and storm surges after it killed at least 25 people in Central America.
New Orleans evacuated some residents from areas outside its levee system as Nate, a Category 1 hurricane, the weakest on a five-category scale used by meteorologists, churned towards the central Gulf of Mexico. “Nate is at our doorstep or will be soon,” New Orleans mayor Mitch Landrieu said, adding that the winds could cause significant power outages, and storm surges are projected to be six to nine feet (1.8 to 2.7 metres) high.
“We have been through this many, many times. There is no need to panic,” Landrieu told a news conference.
The storm brushed by Mexico’s Yucatan peninsula, home to beach resorts such as Cancun and Playa del Carmen, as it headed north, the U.S. National Hurricane Center in Miami said.
With maximum sustained winds of 80 miles per hour (130 kmh), Nate was about 345 miles (550 km) south-southeast of the Mississippi river and expected to strengthen before it makes landfall, the NHC said.
Meanwhile, Google will attempt to use solar-powered internet-transmitting balloons to provide emergency phone reception to Puerto Rico in the aftermath of Hurricane Maria.
The tech giant plans to fly 30 balloons over the island as part of its Project Loon, after thousands of phone towers were destroyed in the storm.
According to the US Federal Communications Commission, 83 per cent of phone towers are out of service, with communications companies scrambling to install temporary masts. The balloons, that travel on the edge of space, were designed to extend Internet connectivity to people in rural and remote areas worldwide but they have also been deployed for disaster relief efforts.
A New Jersey man who spent decades preparing his home for doomsday is donating all of his stored food to families affected by Hurricane Maria in Puerto Rico.
Joseph Badame lost his wife and was in the process of losing his Medford home when the 74-year-old met a couple raising money for their family affected by Hurricane Maria in Puerto Rico. Badame made a $100 donation, and then led the couple to the room where he stored all of his food and told them to take it all.