Zeta made landfall near Cocodrie, La.—a fishing village in Terrebonne Parish, south of New Orleans—as a Category 2 storm with 110 mile-an-hour winds, 1 mph shy of a Category 3. It was forecast to make a second landfall along the Mississippi coast Wednesday evening and to move across the southeastern and eastern U.S. on Thursday, according to the National Hurricane Center.
A hurricane warning was in effect from Morgan City, La., to the Mississippi-Alabama border, including New Orleans. A storm-surge warning was in effect from the mouth of the Atchafalaya River in Louisiana to Navarre, Fla. Forecasters said strong, damaging winds would spread well inland across parts of Mississippi, Alabama, northern Georgia and the Carolinas.
In New Orleans, Mayor LaToya Cantrell urged residents to fight fatigue as they undertook storm preparations a seventh time this season. While the city was spared the brunt of earlier hurricanes this season, this time it lay squarely in the path of Zeta.
“This is not a drill,” she said at a news conference Wednesday. “It’s coming fast, it’s coming strong.”
Damages from Zeta, which was moving at a fast clip of 24 mph Wednesday evening, are expected to stem largely from powerful, sustained winds, said Collin Arnold, director of the city’s Office of Homeland Security and Emergency Preparedness.
“There’s going to be power outages, there’s going to be downed trees, there’s going to be downed limbs, there’s going to be dangers out there in the street after this is over,” he said. “These things will not be resolved overnight.”
City officials said a turbine that helps power drainage pumps broke down over the weekend and wasn’t back in service ahead of the storm. They put in place contingency plans, but the loss deprived the system of much backup power, they said.
Zeta is the 27th named storm of an especially active Atlantic hurricane season, nearing the record 28 tropical storms of the 2005 season. Several of them have hammered the Gulf Coast, and about 3,600 Louisianans remain sheltered because of Hurricane Delta earlier this month and Hurricane Laura in August.
Louisiana Gov. John Bel Edwards said that while those previous storms battered the southwestern area of the state, Zeta would rake the southeastern coast. He warned of potential damage to homes, businesses and infrastructure, including electrical systems.
If there was a positive aspect to the hurricane, he said, it was that its rapid speed would prevent a prolonged pounding and avoid dumping large amounts of rain. He said the state was working with power utilities to mitigate any impacts of power outages on the elections next week.
Mr. Edwards said the National Guard had activated more than 1,500 members and positioned high-water vehicles, boats and helicopters for search-and-rescue efforts. It also moved food and water into place for distribution as needed after the storm.
President Trump approved an emergency declaration for Louisiana on Tuesday, freeing up federal assistance for the state.
Forecasters predict significant storm surge along portions of the Gulf Coast, with 6 to 11 feet projected for an area between Port Fourchon, La., and Dauphin Island, Ala., and 4 to 6 feet Lake Pontchartrain, bordering New Orleans. They expect rainfall of 2 to 4 inches, with isolated areas receiving 6 inches.
“This is a very vulnerable area when it comes to storm surge,” said Ken Graham, director of the National Hurricane Center, in a briefing Tuesday.
In Alabama, Gov. Kay Ivey urged residents on Wednesday afternoon to finish preparations and take the hurricane seriously given its intensification. “Zeta is gaining strength and will certainly give a punch to our state,” she said.