Gulf Coast hit for the second time

DEVASTATING: HURRICANE NATE POUNDS US STATES

Residents facing power outages lasting about a week.

New Orleans

Hurricane Nate slammed into the US Gulf Coast for the second time in hours early yesterday after leaving a trail of death and destruction in Central America.

Officials urged residents to evacuate some vulnerable areas before the storm first made landfall on the southeastern tip of Louisiana on Saturday evening, and residents scrambled to make last-minute preparations ahead of the third hurricane to hit the region in less than two months.

The US National Hurricane Center (NHC) said Nate struck again at 1.30am about 8km west of Biloxi, Mississippi, where sea levels rose dramatically.

But US President Donald Trump said federal officials were ready for the storm, urging residents of Alabama, Florida, Louisiana and Mississippi to “listen to your local authorities and be safe”. The storm, a Category One hurricane, with winds swirling at 140km/h, was heading north at about 30km/h, the NHC said.

The mayor’s office lifted a mandatory curfew, saying the hurricane warning for the city was no longer in effect.

Multiple shelters had been opened for evacuees from low-lying areas, and officials urged residents to finish preparations before evening, including stocking up on food and water.

“I lived through Katrina and I know what that was like,” said Jackie Daigre, 69, who was buying groceries in preparation for the hurricane at a busy Walmart store, where the shelves of bottled water were picked almost completely bare.

Officials said the recent hurricanes, devastating as they were, actually helped with preparations for Nate, since emergency supplies and assets deployed for the earlier storms were still in place.

Still, the resources of the US Federal Emergency Management Agency have been stretched.

The New Orleans levee system has been considerably fortified since Katrina, but authorities warn that it has not completely eliminated flood risks.

Unlike Hurricane Harvey, which dumped record amounts of rain as it hovered over neighbouring Texas for a week, fast-moving Nate was expected to pass through quickly along a northerly path.

With widespread electrical outages expected, New Orleans-area power provider Entergy prepositioned repair crews and warned that outages could last up to a week. –