Hurricane Nate has made landfall near the mouth of the Mississippi River and is expected sweep northeast to reach the Mississippi coast within hours, on a track that will take it through that state and later the states of Alabama and Tennessee by Sunday night local time.
The National Hurricane Center said Nate’s winds have decreased in speed to about 85 kilometers per hour (53 mph); the storm is expected to weaken further as it travels over land, becoming a tropical depression by late Sunday.
The city of New Orleans flooded by Katrina in 2005, has been bracing for the onset of this storm, but so far the city has been spared a direct hit. Local news coverage said the hurricane warning for New Orleans has been lifted, and the sea level Louisiana city is now under a tropical storm warning.
Nate is reported to be moving at a fast clip, which could help minimize damage in coastal areas and the cities and towns it passes over.
Still dangerous
Local officials are urging residents of those areas to stay inside until the storm passes. New Orleans Mayor Mitch Landrieu told his constituents and the tourists visiting New Orleans to take caution.
“The storm is on us,” he said. Despite Nate’s weakening, he reminded them a lower-category storm could still be dangerous — and this one was not wasting any time.
“It’s gonna hit you hard, it’s gonna hit you fast,” he said.
Residents in parts of Louisiana’s coastal St. Bernard Parish, east of New Orleans, were ordered to evacuate Friday in anticipation of Nate’s arrival.
Major shipping ports across the central U.S. Gulf Coast were closed Saturday as the storm intensified amid expected storm surges of up to 9 feet.
States of emergency were declared in Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama. Officials issued evacuation orders in low-lying areas of those states and announced shelters are available for anyone who needs them.
President Donald Trump issued an emergency declaration allowing federal aid to be made available to help mitigate the storm’s impact.
Earlier this week, Nate — then a tropical storm — claimed at least 25 lives as it moved across Central America.
The U.S. State Department said Friday evening in a statement: “We stand with the people of Nicaragua, Costa Rica and Honduras affected by Tropical Storm Nate, and offer our condolences to the loved ones of those killed in the storm . . . We stand ready to provide assistance if needed.”
Hurricane Maria
Some two weeks after the catastrophic Category 5 Hurricane Maria hit Puerto Rico, the U.S. territory is still reeling from the storm’s devastating effects. Governor Ricardo Rossello said Friday just 8.6 percent of Puerto Rico Electric Power Authority clients had their power restored; 365 of 1,619 telecommunication towers had been repaired, and landlines were functioning at 100 percent.
The governor told reporters Saturday that Maria was the “most devastating event in the modern history” of the U.S. territory, and he said there is an urgent need to “stabilize the situation and start rebuilding appropriately.”
Failure to do so, Rossello said, could result in the collapse of the remaining infrastructure, triggering “a major exodus from Puerto Rico.” | via Voice of America
