Louisiana braces to relive a nightmare with Hurricane Delta

LAKE CHARLES, La. — People in south Louisiana steeled themselves Friday as Hurricane Delta delivered bands of rain, strong winds and rising water as the storm neared landfall in a part of the state still recovering from a deadly catastrophic hurricane six weeks ago.

In the city of Lake Charles, about 30 miles inland from where Delta was expected to make landfall, rain pelted the tarp-covered roofs of buildings that Hurricane Laura battered when it barreled through in late August and killed at least 27 people in the state.

“It’s devastating and it’s emotional for the citizenry,” Mayor Nic Hunter said as he prepared to ride out the storm in downtown Lake Charles.

Delta weakened to a Category 2 storm with maximum winds of 100 mph Friday evening.

At 5 p.m., the National Hurricane Center said the storm’s center was 25 miles to the south of Cameron, Louisiana, a sparely populated coastal community devastated by 2005’s Hurricane Rita and Hurricane Ike in 2008.

Forecasters reported 7 feet of storm surge east of Cameron and warned that some areas could see water reach 11 feet above ground along the Louisiana coast.

As Delta approached, winds picked up in inland areas such as Lafayette, where occasionally strong gusts buffeted trees and sheets of rain were falling. Many parishes and towns implemented curfews Friday until Saturday morning to encourage people to stay off the roads during the worst of the storm.

Dawn Trosclair checked into a hotel Friday, worried about trees falling on her home in Lafayette.

“No other storm really threatened us,” Trosclair said as she watched the gusting winds. “Laura was far enough away and the winds were going to be mild enough here where we didn’t leave.”

Laura damaged about 95% of the homes and buildings in Lake Charles, while up to 8,000 residents — 10% of the population — remain displaced, the mayor said.

from Boston Herald https://ift.tt/33LbL5F