Hurricane Delta Delivers Another Blow to Louisiana

LOUISIANA—October 11, 2020— Hurricane Delta made landfall Friday evening in Creole, La. as a Category 2 storm with 100 mph winds, heavy rain, and storm surge. Lake Charles, La., devastated by Hurricane Laura less than two months ago, also took a direct hit, according to NPR. Delta’s high winds downed power lines, damaged buildings, and scattered piles of debris left by Hurricane Laura, which made landfall in August just 13 miles away.

Hurricane Delta dumped 17 inches of rain in 12 hours in parts of southwest Louisiana, causing flash flooding and flooded roads, according to CNN. The storm weakened to a tropical depression by Saturday morning but continued to drench the Southeast as it pushed inland. Heavy rain in Arkansas and Mississippi is expected with isolated totals of up to 10 inches. About 3 million people in the Mississippi and Tennessee River valleys were under flash flood watches over the weekend.

Hundreds of thousands of people along the Gulf Coast are still without power as the remnants of Hurricane Delta continue to push northeast into Tennessee. In Louisiana alone, more than half a million power outages were reported, according to NPR, representing about a quarter of the state’s customers. CNN reports that more than 615,000 customers were without power by Saturday morning in Texas, Louisiana, and Mississippi. The National Guard has been activated to assist in rescue efforts and distribute emergency supplies.

October 8, 2020

Hurricane Delta Could Become the Fourth 2020 Storm to Hit Louisiana

LOUISIANA—October 8, 2020—Hurricane Delta, the season’s 25th named storm is barreling toward the Louisiana coast where it is expected to make landfall Friday afternoon, possibly impacting some of the same areas that are still recovering from the Category 4 Hurricane Laura in late August. Hurricane Delta is currently a Category 2 storm with 105 mph winds, but it is expected to strengthen and then possibly weaken again prior to landfall, according to NPR. Delta could become the fourth named storm to make landfall in Louisiana this year, setting a state record, according to CNN.

Much of the Louisiana coast is under a hurricane warning with officials urging residents to prepare today because storm conditions could make preparations difficult and dangerous on Friday ahead of Hurricane Delta’s arrival. According to forecasts by the National Hurricane Center, Delta could bring winds up to 115 mph and 7 to 11 feet of storm surge. NPR reports 5 to 10 inches of rain are expected, with some areas seeing as much as 15 inches. The NHC warns that significant flash, urban, and river flooding is likely from the Central Gulf Coast to the Lower Mississippi Valley. As the storm pushes inland over the weekend, the Ohio Valley and Mid-Atlantic will also see heavy rain.

Hurricane Delta is an historic storm in an already historic Atlantic season. This is just the second time in history that the Greek alphabet has been needed to name storms after the standard alphabetic names are exhausted, but this year’s Hurricane Delta came more than a month sooner than the previous Delta named storm, which appeared on November 15, 2005, according to CNN. Delta also experienced the fastest increase in intensity on record, strengthening from a tropical depression to a Category 4 storm with winds of 145 mph in just 30 hours, becoming the strongest Greek alphabet storm in history. Delta is also expected to become the 10th named storm to make landfall in the U.S. this year, breaking the previous record of nine landfalls from 1916.