The Latest on Hurricane Delta (all times CDT):
1 a.m.
MIAMI — Delta has been downgraded from a once powerful hurricane to a tropical …
The Latest on Hurricane Delta (all times CDT): 1 a.m. MIAMI — Delta has been downgraded from a once powerful hurricane to a tropical storm as it moves inland across the U.S. South. The National Hurricane Center in Miami said Delta came ashore Friday evening in southwest Louisiana as a Category 2 hurricane but quickly weakened and has become a tropical storm as it moves inland. By Saturday morning, it had maximum sustained winds of 60 mph (95 kph). Forecasters say the storm is moving to the north-northeast on a track across central and north Louisiana that is expected to continue through Saturday morning. The system is expected to become a tropical depression later Saturday as it moves across northern Mississippi into the Tennessee Valley. Power outages in Louisiana and neighboring Texas neared 600,000 homes and businesses early Saturday, according to the tracking website PowerOutage.us. Almost 40,000 outages were reported in Mississippi.9:45 p.m. Forecasters say Delta remains barely a hurricane with top sustained winds of 75 mph (120 kph). The National Hurricane Center in Miami said Delta is moving further inland over southwestern Louisiana as a weak Category 1 hurricane. Approaching 10 p.m. CDT Friday, the storm was located about 70 miles (110 kilometers) northeast of Cameron, Louisiana. It is moving to the north-northeast at 15 mph (24 kph). The storm is expected to continue rapid weakening and be downgraded to a tropical storm in coming hours. It’s expected to continue moving over central and north Louisiana in coming hours. After that, the system is forecast to move across northern Mississippi and into the Tennessee Valley.9:30 p.m. Hurricane Delta cut through parts of Louisiana’s Acadiana region — a unique part of the state named after the French emigrants kicked out of Nova Scotia hundreds of years ago who eventually settled in south Louisiana. It’s a region where food — even in a hurricane — is important. That was evident when reporter Gerald Gruenig with KLFY television was out reporting on the storm Friday night. Gruenig hosts a weekly segment called Acadiana Eats. He was interviewing a man driving in the town of Abbeville about the weather when conversation turned to food. “Ya’ll cooking tonight?” Gruenig asked. “I got some fresh rabbit,” the man answered before driving away with Gruenig calling after him to be careful. ”That’s what a hurricane smells like, roux baby,” Gruenig said, referring to the savory fat-and-flour sauce popular in the region.9 p.m. Wind and rain from Delta also pummeled the Louisiana city of Lafayette, further east from where the hurricane came ashore, and one apartment owner described it as “pretty scary.“ Jeanne-Marie Gove could hear debris hitting her front door and her patio gate banging open and shut. She lives in an apartment in Lafayette, about 75 miles (120 kilometers) east of Lake Charles closer to the hurricane’s center. The National Hurricane Center said strong winds were spreading inland across Louisiana at 9 p.m. CDT Friday as Delta still had top sustained winds of 80 mph (128 kph). “The wind is much worse than what Hurricane Laura brought,” Gove said in a message on Twitter, referring to the storm that battered southwest Louisiana six weeks ago. The roof from a trailer at the mobile home park behind Gove’s apartment was torn off and tossed down the sidewalk. Power was out for many residents. Meanwhile, some 400,000 customers were reported without power in Louisiana and southeastern Texas.8:15 p.m. Hurricane Delta is driving further inland as strong winds continue to hammer the southwest Louisiana coast. The National Hurricane Center in Miami said Delta was centered at 8 p.m. CDT about 20 miles (35 kilometers) east-northeast of Lake Charles, the main city in the region. Maximum sustained winds have dropped to 85 mph (140 kph) and forecasters say Delta is expected to weaken to a tropical storm in coming hours as it heads deeper into the South.
