Hurricane Francine made landfall in Terrebonne Parish, Louisiana, on Wednesday evening as a Category 2 hurricane, with the National Hurricane Center warning “life-threatening storm surge and hurricane conditions” were spreading onto the coast.
This National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration satellite image taken at 7:10 p.m. EST shows ... [+]
Francine made landfall with 100 mph maximum sustained winds, a Category 2 storm, after it strengthened just before hitting the coastline.
A hurricane warning is in effect for the Louisiana coast from Vermilion/Cameron Line eastward to Grand Isle, while a hurricane watch covers metropolitan New Orleans and storm surge warnings stretch from southwest Louisiana to the Mississippi/Alabama border.
Francine could bring “life-threatening inundation” to areas under the storm surge warning, with a peak surge of up to 10 feet expected between Burns Point and Port Fourchon along the Louisiana coast.
Francine is expected to bring rainfall of 4 to 8 inches to southeastern Louisiana, Mississippi, far southern Alabama and the Florida Panhandle through Thursday night—and could measure up to 12 inches in some places— which could lead to flash and urban flooding.
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Francine is expected to quickly weaken as it moves northward. It’s forecast to weaken into a tropical storm and make its way into Mississippi by early Thursday morning, moving into the northern part of the state as a tropical depression. Its remnants are then expected to meander around northern Mississippi, eastern Arkansas, western Tennessee and southern Missouri into the weekend.
Francine is the sixth named storm of the Atlantic hurricane season and the first to form since Ernesto on Aug. 12. Forecasters this year predicted the busiest storm season the agency has ever forecasted amid near-record warm sea surface temperatures and the return of the weather phenomenon known as La Niña, which lessens a wind shear effect in the Atlantic. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration predicted there will be 17 and 25 named storms, including between eight and 13 hurricanes and four to seven major hurricanes of Category 3 and above this season (from June 1 to Nov. 30).