Hurricane Francine came ashore Wednesday evening on the Louisiana Gulf Coast, about 48 kilometers southwest of Morgan City.
The Category 2 storm is packing winds of 155 kph and could drop from 10-20 centimeters from rain on Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and Florida. Some places in Mississippi could get as much as 30 centimeters, the National Hurricane Center said Wednesday.
Hurricane Center forecasters predict the rainfall “could lead to considerable flash, urban and river flooding.”
The NHC said earlier Wednesday afternoon that “conditions will continue to deteriorate over the next several hours” as the storm made landfall.
“Now is the time to stay inside and away from windows,” the center said in an afternoon update. “Have multiple ways to receive warnings and updates.”
Francine is moving with maximum sustained winds of 155 kilometers per hour.
Metropolitan New Orleans is under a hurricane watch, which means hurricane conditions are possible in the area. In New Orleans’ case, according to the hurricane center, the hurricane conditions could appear within 24 hours.
Louisiana Governor Jeff Landry has declared a state of emergency and President Joe Biden has declared a federal state of emergency for Louisiana. The declarations free up money and other resources for relief and rescue efforts.
Landry urged his state’s residents to “stay off the roads, stay home and stay put.”
Several Louisiana parishes have issued mandatory evacuation orders. However, in Morgan City, on the banks of the Atchafalaya River in southern Louisiana, Larry Doiron, the owner of a Chevron gas station, said he’s staying put for now and will keep his station open.
"We're the only place out here for the sheriff's department, the fire department. We have gas. All the locals depend on us," he told The Associated Press. "We're going to try and stay on top of it and hopefully take care of everybody.”
But other Morgan City residents weren’t so sure.
Retired boat captain Pat Simon, 75, and his wife, Ruth, loaded some of their possessions in garbage bags and tied them down in the back of a rented U-Haul pickup as they evacuated their home near the banks of the Atchafalaya River near Morgan City.
“I don’t think it’s going to be that bad, like some of the other ones like Ida and Katrina,” Pat Simon said. “I mean, we’ve had some bad ones.”
Some information for this report came from The Associated Press and Reuters.
