Hurricane Delta again a Category 3, heading for Louisiana
TAMPA, Fla. - Hurricane Delta continues to regain its strength and structure in the Gulf of Mexico after making landfall in Mexico on Wednesday.
As Delta passed over the Yucatan Peninsula, it dropped to a Category 1 storm. But Thursday evening, it was already back to a Category 3 storm with winds of 115 mph ahead of its anticipated landfall in Louisiana tomorrow.
LINK: Hurricane Delta forecasts and model runs on MyFoxHurricane.com
"The stronger the storm gets in the Gulf, the further east it will go," says FOX 13's meteorologist Dave Osterberg.
Delta is also expanding in size as well, he said. As that happens, the tropical-storm force winds, the hurricane-force winds will become more noticeable.
The hurricane will hit are area that ws already pummeled by Hurricane Laura in late August.
"If you look at the forecast path, folks, it's heading in the same exact area that Laura did, maybe a few miles east so the same places are going to get hit," Osterberg explained. "The storm surge itself will run anywhere from 4 to 7 feet along the southwest Louisiana coast to as high as 7 to 11 feet around that area in Vermilion Bay."
The National Hurricane Center has issued the following \watches and warnings:
A Storm Surge Warning is in effect for:
- Sabine Pass to Ocean Springs, Mississippi including Calcasieu Lake, Vermilion Bay, Lake Pontchartrain, Lake Maurepas, and Lake Borgne
A Storm Surge Watch is in effect for:
- High Island, TX to Sabine Pass
- East of Ocean Springs, Mississippi to the Mississippi/Alabama border
A Hurricane Warning is in effect for east of Sabine Pass to Morgan City, Louisiana
A Tropical Storm Warning is in effect for:
- San Luis Pass, Texas to Sabine Pass
- East of Morgan City, Louisiana to the mouth of the Pearl River, including New Orleans
- Lake Pontchartrain and Lake Maurepas
A Tropical Storm Watch is in effect for east of the mouth of the Pearl River to Bay St. Louis Mississippi
For the sixth time in the Atlantic hurricane season, people in Louisiana are once more fleeing the state’s barrier islands and sailing boats to safe harbor while emergency officials ramp up command centers and consider ordering evacuations.
The center’s forecasters warned of winds that could gust well above 100 mph and up to 11 feet of ocean water potentially rushing onshore when the storm’s center hits land.
LINK: Hurricane Delta forecasts and model runs on MyFoxHurricane.com
“This season has been relentless,” Louisiana Gov. John Bel Edwards said, dusting off his now common refrain of 2020: “Prepare for the worst. Pray for the best.”
The Associated Press contributed to this report