Hurricane Francine reside updates: Louisiana braces for Category 1 storm’s landfall

Tropical storm conditions have reached the Louisiana coast as Hurricane Francine moved about 95 miles southwest of Morgan City Wednesday afternoon.

The National Hurricane Center said that life-threatening storm surge and hurricane-force winds are expected to begin in Louisiana during the next several hours.

The timeline for the hurricane’s landfall is still from afternoon to the evening. Little change in strength is expected before it hits.

After that, the system will cross southeastern Louisiana before moving northward across Mississippi on Thursday.

The system is forecast to become post-tropical on Thursday.

New Orleans officials warned in a wide-ranging press conference on Wednesday that there will be street flooding in the major metro.

Isolated tornadoes are also possible in the region.

“Please, starting this afternoon, and particularly tonight— this evening six, seven o’clock— get off the roads,” Collin Arnold, New Orleans’ director of homeland security and emergency preparedness said.

“Hold the line, stay focused, stay prepared,” said Mayor LaToya Cantrell.

This press conference is live. Please check back for updates.

New Orleans Mayor LaToya Cantrell tweeted that she would hold a news conference on Instagram Live at noon.

The New Orleans Regional Transit Authority will shift to bus transit services only on Wednesday, starting at noon.

The city’s emergency preparedness campaign said that all ferry and streetcar operations would remain suspended until further notice.

The time to evacuate has now passed, Louisiana officials warned Wednesday. In a press conference, Republican Governor Jeff Landry said that Hurricane Francine was beginning to impact the state.

“Stay home and stay put,” the governor said, advising people to take advantage of the power they currently have.

“If the conditions are not too rough in the area, then now could be the last opoortunity for you to take photos of your property to assess the damage once the storm has passed,” Landry added.

Residents are also instructed to put important documents in a safe and waterproof place.

“We are now no longer in the prepare for a hurricane, we are now in the respond for a hurricane,” Jacques Thibodeaux who serves as the Director of the Governor’s Office of Homeland Security and Emergency Preparedness, said.

Hurricane Francine was moving very quickly more than 200 miles to the southwest of New Orleans late Wednesday morning.

The storm strengthened over night, with maximum sustained winds at 90 miles per hour. Francine was shifting, National Hurricane Center Director Dr. Michael Brennan said, to the northeast at 13 miles per hours.

Multiple life-threatening hazards are expected for Louisiana over the course of the next few hours. Brennan said the agency was very concerned about storm surge from Intracoastal City to Port Fourchoun.

The New Orleans metropolitan area was under a hurricane watch. There were tropical storm warnings across the Louisiana coast. Tropical storm conditions are expected into Mississippi, as well.

At this point, Governor Jeff Landry said people should stay indoors and off roads.

“We stand ready,” he said in a press conference.

FEMA announced Wednesday that President Biden had approved an emergency declaration for Louisiana. The action authorizes the agency to coordinate disaster relief efforts, including mobilizing necesary equipment and resources.

The city has asked that residents stay off the roads and shelter in place by 11 a.m. The hurricane is expected to hit this evening as a Category 1 storm.

“Conditions will worsen throughout the day—stay safe!” the mayor wrote on social media.

Louisiana residents are preparing for Hurricane Francine, stopping at gas stations and filling up sandbags.

The website showed 91 had been cancelled at Louis Armstrong New Orleans International Airport.

At Baton Rouge Metropolitan Airport, there were 17. And, the Lafayette Regional/Paul Fournet Field had 10.

Cancellations were also shown at major travel hubs in Texas, including in Dallas and Houston.

Residents of Louisiana have scrambled to prepare for Hurricane Francine, putting plywood on windows in Morgan City and filling sandbags. While some took the chance to evacuate their homes, others would ride out the storm.

In New Orleans, cars and trucks were lined up for blocks to collect sandbags from the parking lot of a local YMCA.

The National Guard will be deployed to parishes that could be impacted by Francine, bringing food and water.

Louisiana Governor Jeff Landry has declared a state of emergency.

The governor, who is expected to hold a press conference in a little over an hour, commended teens in Lafitte who were filling sandbags and stacking them for “14 hours straight,” according to WDSU.

“#LouisianaStrong,” he wrote in a post of social media.

With reporting from The Associated Press