Hurricane Zeta aims for Louisiana, residents told to ‘hunker down’

Weather forecasters urged Gulf Coast residents to seek shelter or evacuate Wednesday ahead of Hurricane Zeta’s expected landfall in southeastern Louisiana, warning of damaging winds, heavy rainfall, coastal flooding and possible tornadoes.

The National Weather Service in New Orleans said Zeta could land as a Category 2 hurricane Wednesday afternoon or evening, but will impact areas stretching from southeastern Louisiana into Florida.

“We expect all threats and all hazards to come to the area today with Zeta,” NWS meteorologist Lauren Nash said during a Wednesday briefing, adding that residents could experience hours of high winds at 80 to 90 mph with gusts up to 100 mph.

“Everybody needs to be hunkering down by early afternoon,” Ms. Nash said. “There’s no reason to be out tonight between 80 to 90 mph winds, flooding and potential roads being washed out or driving in the flooded roads.”

Ahead of Hurricane Zeta, the city of New Orleans ordered schools to end instruction early and suspended public transportation. The city’s emergency management department said all residents should be sheltered in place by 2 p.m.

Louisiana residents already are weather-beaten from this hurricane season, having endured two tropical storms and two hurricanes. New Orleans also faced threats from potential tropical cyclones seven times this year.

After making landfall in Louisiana, the hurricane is expected to migrate to the Mississippi coast in the evening. The National Hurricane Center anticipates it will then move across the southeastern and eastern United States on Thursday. Hurricane warnings spanned from Louisiana to Alabama as Zeta, the 27th named storm of the Atlantic hurricane season, traveled north at about 18 mph in the morning.

Many areas will experience high storm surge, reaching as high as 9 feet. The mouth of the Pearl River to Dauphin Island, Alabama, could see 6 to 9 feet, while Port Fourchon, Louisiana, to the mouth of the Mississippi River could see 5 to 8 feet. The area from the Mississippi River to the Pearl River could see 4 to 7 feet of storm surge.

Meteorologists predicted that high winds gusts will sweep through southeastern Mississippi, Alabama and northern Georgia on Wednesday evening into Thursday morning before traveling into the Carolinas and southeastern Virginia.

The Weather Channel forecast wind gusts of up to 75 mph for New Orleans and Mobile, Alabama, on Wednesday. The southern Appalachian Mountains could see severe wind gusts Thursday, the National Hurricane Center said.

Areas from the central Gulf Coast to mid-Mississippi and Ohio Valleys and eastward into the southern to central Appalachians and mid-Atlantic could experience heavy rainfall — anywhere from 2 to 6 inches, leading to the flooding of rivers, small streams and urban areas.

Hurricane Zeta could also whip up a few tornadoes in southeastern parts of Louisiana and Mississippi, southern Alabama and the western panhandle of Florida on Wednesday afternoon and evening.

Power outages are expected to extend from southeastern Louisiana to parts of central and southern Alabama, northern Georgia, southwestern North Carolina and upstate South Carolina, The Weather Channel reported. Southeast Virginia and central North Carolina could also experience power outages.

Earlier this week, Louisiana Gov. John Bel Edwards issued a state of emergency and asked for federal assistance for Hurricane Zeta. President Trump and the Federal Emergency Management Agency approved the governor’s request for assistance Tuesday evening.

Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey and Mayor Andrew “FoFo” Gilich of Biloxi, Mississippi, also declared states of emergency.

Zeta landed Monday night on the eastern Yucatn Peninsula near Tulum, Mexico, as a Category 1 hurricane with maximum sustained winds of 80 mph before weakening to a tropical storm and continuing north.

It is the earliest 27th Atlantic named storm, breaking the previous record for the storm that formed Nov. 29, 2005. It is the 11th hurricane of the season. Hurricane season lasts through Nov. 30.

• This article is based in part on wire reports.