Top line
A hurricane warning was issued for the New Orleans metropolitan area Tuesday afternoon as Tropical Storm Francine moves northeast toward the Louisiana coast. The storm is expected to strengthen into a hurricane in the next few hours.
Tropical Storm Francine formed in the Gulf of Mexico on Monday morning and is expected … (+)
Key data
According to the National Hurricane Center’s 4 p.m. CDT update, Francine had maximum sustained winds of 65 mph, was located about 360 miles southwest of Morgan City, Louisiana, and was moving northeast at 10 mph.
Forecasters expect the storm to become a hurricane early Wednesday morning and peak with winds of 90 mph before making landfall. They expect a period of “steady to rapid strengthening” over the next 24 hours, although winds remained steady at 65 mph throughout the day Tuesday.
Francine, which is expected to reach Louisiana on Wednesday evening, has triggered a hurricane warning for the Louisiana coast from Cameron to Grand Isle, a storm surge warning from Sabine Pass, Texas, to the Mississippi-Alabama border and a tropical storm warning for all of eastern Texas to the Alabama-Florida border.
A hurricane warning is in effect for the greater New Orleans area as well as Lake Pontchartrain and Lake Maurepas, for which a tropical storm warning is also in effect.
The storm threatens to cause “life-threatening flooding” in areas under a storm surge warning, with peak flooding of up to 10 feet expected between the Rockefeller Wildlife Refuge and Port Fourchon on the Louisiana coast.
The National Hurricane Center is warning of “significant flash flooding and urban flooding,” as well as the risk of tornadoes. In some areas, up to 30 centimeters of rainfall is expected.
Evacuation orders are in place for much of coastal Louisiana, especially low-lying areas with inadequate or no levee protection. In southern Louisiana, many schools will remain closed on Wednesday.
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Important background
Francine is the first named storm to form after a lull in weeks and the sixth named storm of the Atlantic hurricane season. Tuesday is the statistical peak of the Atlantic hurricane season, according to The New York Times, and this year’s season (it runs from June 1 to November 30) is expected to be among the strongest on record, with as many as 25 named storms and more than a dozen hurricanes. The last named storm before Francine was Ernesto on August 12, and this season is the first since 1968 in which no named storm formed between August 13 and September 8.
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