Francine gains strength and is expected to be a hurricane when it reaches US Gulf Coast
BATON ROUGE, Louisiana — Tropical Storm Francine raged in the Gulf of Mexico increasing in strength and was expected to reach hurricane status on Tuesday before making landfall in Louisiana.
According to the National Hurricane Center, a storm surge warning was in effect for an area stretching from just east of Houston to the mouth of the Mississippi River south of New Orleans. Such a warning means there is a possibility of life-threatening flooding.
Louisiana Gov. Jeff Landry urged residents to “not panic, but be prepared” and to heed evacuation warnings. Forecasters said Francine was expected to make landfall in southern Louisiana on Wednesday afternoon as a Category 2 hurricane with winds of 96 to 110 mph (155-175 km/h).
“We don’t want people to wait until the last minute to get on the road and then run out of gas,” Landry said. “We do a lot of outreach throughout the summer, during hurricane season, so people can be prepared. The more prepared we are, the easier it is for us.”
Francine sets her sights on Louisiana’s coastline, which has not fully recovered since Hurricanes Laura and Delta decimated Lake Charles in 2020, followed a year later by Hurricane Ida. This past weekend, a 22-story building in Lake Charles that had become a symbol of the storm’s devastation was destroyed imploded after being empty For nearly four years the windows were broken and covered with torn tarps.
Meteorologists say Francine’s storm surge could reach as high as 10 feet (3 meters) along the Louisiana coast, from Cameron to Port Fourchon and Vermilion Bay.
“It is a potential for very dangerous, life-threatening flooding,” said Michael Brennan, director of the hurricane center, adding that it could also send “dangerous, damaging winds far inland.”
He said the landing would likely occur somewhere between Sabine Pass (on the Texas-Louisiana border) and Morgan City, Louisiana, about 220 miles (350 kilometers) to the east.
Louisiana officials urged residents to prepare immediately, “while conditions allow,” said Mike Steele, spokesman for the Governor’s Office of Homeland Security and Emergency Preparedness.
“We always talk about how when something gets into the Gulf, things can change quickly, and this is a perfect example of that,” Steele said.
Residents of Baton Rouge, Louisiana’s capital, began forming long lines as people filled gas tanks and shopped for groceries. Others filled sandbags at city-run sites to protect homes from potential flooding.
“It is critical that we all take this storm very seriously and begin our preparations immediately,” said Baton Rouge Mayor-President Sharon Weston Broome, urging residents to stock up on three days’ worth of food, water and other supplies.
The Cameron Parish Office of Homeland Security has ordered a mandatory evacuation for seven remote coastal communities & Emergency preparedness. That includes Holly Beach, a laid-back stretch of land dubbed Louisiana’s “Cajun Riviera” where many homes are built on stilts. The storm-battered city is a low-cost paradise for oil workers, families and retirees, rebuilt several times after previous hurricanes.
In Grand Isle, Louisiana’s last inhabited barrier island, Mayor David Camardelle advised residents to evacuate and ordered a mandatory evacuation for people in recreational vehicles. Hurricane Ida decimated the town three years ago, destroying 700 homes.
Officials warn that flooding, high winds and power outages are likely in the area from Tuesday afternoon through Thursday.
In New Orleans, Mayor LaToya Cantrell urged residents to prepare to take shelter. “Now is the time to finalize your storm plans and prepare, not only for your families, but for your neighbors,” she said.
City officials said they expected up to 6 inches (15 centimeters) of rain, gusty winds and “isolated tornado activity,” with the most extreme weather likely to reach New Orleans on Wednesday and Thursday.
The hurricane center said Francine was about 125 miles (205 kilometers) southeast of the mouth of the Rio Grande and about 425 miles (690 kilometers) southwest of Cameron, with sustained winds of about 65 miles per hour (100 kilometers per hour). It was moving north-northwest at 5 mph (7 kph).
When rain fell in northern Mexico on Monday, more than a dozen neighborhoods in Matamoros — across the border from Brownsville, Texas — were flooded, forcing schools to remain closed Monday and Tuesday. Marco Antonio Hernandez Acosta, manager of the Matamoros Water and Drainage Board, said they were waiting for Mexico’s federal government to deliver pumps to drain the affected areas.
The storm was expected to track northeast through Monday evening, then accelerate northeastward beginning Tuesday before approaching the Upper Texas and Louisiana coastline on Wednesday.
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Stengle contributed to this report from Dallas and Alfredo Peña from Ciudad Victoria, Mexico.