Tens of thousands in the dark after Hurricane Francine strikes Louisiana with 100 m.p.h. winds

MORGAN CITY, La. -

Hurricane Francine slammed into the Louisiana coast Wednesday evening as a dangerous Category 2 storm that knocked out electricity to more than 245,000 customers and threatened widespread flooding as it sent a potentially deadly storm surge rushing inland along the Gulf Coast.

Francine crashed ashore in Terrebonne Parish, about 30 miles (50 kilometres) southwest of Morgan City, the National Hurricane Center announced at 4 p.m. CT. Packing maximum sustained winds near 100 m.p.h. (155 km/h), the hurricane then battered a fragile coastal region that hasn’t fully recovered from a series of devastating hurricanes in 2020 and 2021.

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Morgan City Fire Chief Alvin Cockerham said the hurricane quickly flooded streets, snapped power lines and sent tree limbs crashing down.

“It’s a little bit worse than what I expected to be honest with you,” Cockerham said of the onslaught. “I pulled all my trucks back to the station; it’s too dangerous to be out there in this.”

TV news broadcasts from Louisiana’s coastal communities showed waves from nearby lakes, rivers and Gulf waters thrashing sea walls. Water poured into city streets and neighborhoods amid blinding downpours. Oak and cypress trees leaned in the high winds, and some utility poles swayed back and forth.

Power outages in Louisiana topped 190,000 hours after landfall, spread widely across southeast Louisiana. Blackouts affected the majority of homes and businesses in coastal parishes nearest where the storm came inland as well as their inland neighbors, according to the tracking site poweroutage.us.

Sheltering at her mother's home just outside Morgan City, Laura Leftwich said blasts of wind had swept away two large birdhouses outside. She had a generator powering an internet connection so she could video chat with friends, holding her computer to a window to show them water overflowing in the street.

If the storm had been any more intense, “I wouldn't have the guts to look outside,” said Leftwich, 40. “It’s a little scary.”

The National Hurricane Center urged residents in a wide area of southern Louisiana to take shelter for the night as the hurricane moved to the northeast at 17 m.p.h. (28 km/h). That included New Orleans, where forecasters said the storm's eye could pass through.

“Conditions are going to go downhill really rapidly over the next couple of hours,” Jamie Rhome, the hurricane centre’s deputy director, said in an online briefing just before landfall. “It’s not going to be a good night to be driving on the roads, especially when the sun goes down.”

In Morgan City, gas stations had put plywood on the windows and moved trash cans inside, with a few pumps still serving the trickle of cars passing through shortly after dawn.

Retired boat captain Pat Simon, 75, and his wife, Ruth, loaded all their possessions in garbage bags and tied them down in the back of a rented U-Haul pickup truck 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.”

Francine drew fuel from exceedingly warm Gulf of Mexico waters, strengthening from a Category 1 to a Category 2 storm hours before landfall, the National Hurricane Center said. Category 2 hurricanes are classified as having winds of between 96 to 110 m.p.h. (155 to 175 km/h), which forecasters say are capable of extensive damage.

The centre said a gust of 105 m.p.h. (168 km/h) was reported from a coastal island and warned that heavy rains and hurricane-force winds were spreading inland across southern Louisiana.

“Now is the time to stay inside and away from windows,” the centre's advisory warned shortly after landfall.

Louisiana Gov. Jeff Landry urged residents to “stay off the roads, stay home and stay put.” He said the National Guard was being sent to parishes that could be impacted by Francine. They have with food, water, nearly 400 high-water vehicles, about 100 boats and 50 helicopters to respond to the storm, including for possible search-and-rescue operations.

Cars drive through rain bands along Peter Rd., just outside New Orleans, ahead of Tropical Storm Francine, in Harvey, La., Tuesday, Sept. 10, 2024. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert)

Since the mid-19th century 57 hurricanes have tracked over or made landfall in Louisiana, according to The Weather Channel. Among them are some of the strongest, costliest and deadliest storms in U.S. history.

Francine was centred about 65 miles (105 kilometres) southwest of Morgan City and was moving northeast at 17 m.p.h. (27 km/h) with maximum sustained winds of 100 m.p.h. (155 km/h), the Miami-based hurricane centre said.

Morgan City, home to around 11,500 people, sits on the banks of the Atchafalaya River in south Louisiana and is surrounded by lakes and marsh. It’s described on the city’s website as “gateway to the Gulf of Mexico for the shrimping and oilfield industries.”

Larry Doiron, the owner of a Chevron station just outside of Morgan City limits, said he had enough gas to keep pumps operational through the storm.

“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 said. “We’re going to try and stay on top of it and hopefully take care of everybody.

Winds and heavy downpour on Harrison County Beaches in Pass Christian, Miss. due to Hurricane Francine Wednesday, Sept. 11, 2024. (Hunter Dawkins / The Gazebo Gazette via AP)

U.S. President Joe Biden granted an emergency declaration that will help Louisiana secure federal money and logistical assistance from partners such as the Federal Emergency Management Agency. Both Landry and Mississippi Gov. Tate Reeves also declared states of emergency, authorizing them to quickly free up resources for disaster assistance.

A hurricane warning was in effect along the Louisiana coast from Cameron east to Grand Isle, about 50 miles (80 kilometres) south of New Orleans, according to the centre. A storm surge warning stretched from the Mississippi-Alabama border to the Alabama-Florida border. Such a warning means life-threatening flooding could occur.

The Mississippi Emergency Management Agency said it distributed more than 100,000 sandbags to the southern part of the state and the Department of Education reported a number of school district closures for Wednesday and Thursday.

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Bands of heavy rain were hitting New Orleans Wednesday morning. The city’s historic streetcars that roll on South Carrollton Avenue had to ease past cars that motorists parked next to the tracks on the grassy median. The median is a few inches higher than the street and drivers sometimes park there to avoid street flooding.

Francine is the sixth named storm of the Atlantic hurricane season. Much of Louisiana and Mississippi could get four to eight inches (10 to 20 centimetres) of rain, with the possibility of 12 inches (30 centimetres) in some spots, Brad Reinhart, a senior hurricane specialist at the hurricane centre.

The hurricane centre said parts of Mississippi, Alabama, and the Florida Panhandle were at risk of “considerable” flash and urban flooding starting Wednesday. The lower Mississippi Valley and lower Tennessee Valley could experience flooding later in the week as the soggy remnants of Francine sweep inland.

Francine’s storm surge on the Louisiana coast was forecast to reach as much as 10 feet (three meters) from Cameron to Port Fourchon and into Vermilion Bay, forecasters said.

Cline reported from Baton Rouge, La., Associated Press writers Curt Anderson in St. Petersburg, Fla., and Kevin McGill in New Orleans contributed to this story.