Hurricane Francine charges toward Louisiana coast as life-threatening floods and high winds imminent: Live updates

The time to evacuate has now passed, Louisiana officials warned Wednesday.

We are no longer in the prepare for a hurricane, we are now in the respond for a hurricane,” Jacques Thibodeaux who serves as the Director of the Governor’s Office of Homeland Security and Emergency Preparedness, said.

Hurricane Francine was moving very quickly more than 200 miles to the southwest of New Orleans late Wednesday morning.

The storm strengthened over night, with maximum sustained winds at 90 miles per hour. Francine was shifting, National Hurricane Center Director Dr. Michael Brennan said, to the northeast at 13 miles per hours.

Multiple life-threatening hazards are expected for Louisiana over the course of the next few hours. Brennan said the agency was very concerned about storm surge from Intracoastal City to Port Fourchoun.

The New Orleans metropolitan area was under a hurricane watch. There were tropical storm warnings across the Louisiana coast. Tropical storm conditions are expected into Mississippi, as well.

At this point, Governor Jeff Landry said people should stay indoors and off roads.

“We stand ready,” he said in a press conference.

FEMA announced Wednesday that President Biden had approved an emergency declaration for Louisiana. The action authorizes the agency to coordinate disaster relief efforts, including mobilizing necesary equipment and resources.

The city has asked that residents stay off the roads and shelter in place by 11 a.m. The hurricane is expected to hit this evening as a Category 1 storm.

“Conditions will worsen throughout the day—stay safe!” the mayor wrote on social media.

Louisiana residents are preparing for Hurricane Francine, stopping at gas stations and filling up sandbags.

The website showed 91 had been cancelled at Louis Armstrong New Orleans International Airport.

At Baton Rouge Metropolitan Airport, there were 17. And, the Lafayette Regional/Paul Fournet Field had 10.

Cancellations were also shown at major travel hubs in Texas, including in Dallas and Houston.

Residents of Louisiana have scrambled to prepare for Hurricane Francine, putting plywood on windows in Morgan City and filling sandbags. While some took the chance to evacuate their homes, others would ride out the storm.

In New Orleans, cars and trucks were lined up for blocks to collect sandbags from the parking lot of a local YMCA.

The National Guard will be deployed to parishes that could be impacted by Francine, bringing food and water.

Louisiana Governor Jeff Landry has declared a state of emergency.

The governor, who is expected to hold a press conference in a little over an hour, commended teens in Lafitte who were filling sandbags and stacking them for “14 hours straight,” according to WDSU.

“#LouisianaStrong,” he wrote in a post of social media.

With reporting from The Associated Press

Louisiana schools announced closures on Wednesday as Hurricane Francine approaches.

Louisiana State University said its campus would be closed, with classes held remotely on Wednesday and Thursday. Residence halls and on-campus apartments will remain open, with food available to those on campus. Students who live on campus were told to expect to shelter in place during the storm.

Southern University said its Baton Rouge campuses would close on Tuesday afternoon, with normal operations expected to resume on Thursday by noon. There were also adjusted dining hours for its students.

Northshore Technical Community College said it would remain closed through Thursday, and Baton Rouge Community College transitioned to remote work on Tuesday, with classes canceled on Wednesday and Thursday.

New Orleans Public Schools said all schools would be closed both days, following early dismissal on Tuesday. The East Baton Rouge Parish School System canceled classes districtwide on Wednesday and Thursday, as well.

Hurricane Francine is expected to become a Category 2 hurricane before it makes landfall in south Louisiana on Wednesday.

Iberia officials issued a curfew for their residents ahead of the storm, which is taking aim at St. Mary Parish, according to Iberia Parish President Larry Richard.

Richard urged residents of his community to consider voluntary evacuation on Monday night. On Tuesday, he declared a curfew from 11 a.m. Wednesday through Thursday morning.

“This curfew prohibits and/or controls pedestrian and vehicular traffic, except essential emergency vehicles and personnel. The curfew does not apply to anyone going to and from their place of employment for purposes of work or any other critical or essential business activity as specifically defined by the United States Department of Homeland Security, Cyber Security and Infrastructure Security Agency,” he wrote.

Louisiana’s Cleco Power, a utility that serves multiple parishes in the state, said it was monitoring and preparing for Hurricane Francine, as well.

In a statement, Cleco Power said it had secured 1,700 additional contractor resources to respond to the storm, including line mechanics and vegetation specialists.

“We will continue to look at the intensity and path of the storm to adjust the number of workers needed to safely and efficiently clear debris, repair system damage and restore power to our customers,” said Clint Robichaux, director of distribution operations and reliability.

“Now is the time to prepare, especially our customers in south Louisiana.”

Residents are advised to keep flashlights and battery-powered radios handy, along with charged cell phones and other devices. In addition, Cleco Power says all downed power lines should be assumed to be live.

Storm surge could bring floodwaters to heights up to 10 feet in some areas. If water is rising, residents are instructed to turn off electricity at the main breaker, evacuate, and stay away until waters have completely receded.

Utility Louisiana Energy said it is taking proactive steps to trimming trees and limbs away from critical power lines.

“We’ve also requested the help of additional tree trimmers to ensure restoration efforts move quickly and as safely as possible,” they said in a tweet.

Outage tracker PowerOutage.US showed there were already more than 8,200 customers without power on Wednesday morning.