Hurricane Nate made landfall late Saturday afternoon in southeast Louisiana as a Category 1 storm system, lashing the state’s southern coast with wind and rain whipped up from the Gulf of Mexico.
In addition to Louisiana, the states of Alabama, Mississippi and Florida had all declared states of emergency by late Friday as Nate was whirling its way up through the Gulf. By Saturday midday, the hurricane was teetering on Category 2 and had already killed 22 people in Central America. It also appeared to be picking up strength as it headed towards the mouth of the Mississippi River.
The storm was sustaining winds of 90 miles per hour with some higher gusts as it traveled north at 26 miles per hour, heading directly towards the central Gulf coast in a beeline towards southeastern Louisiana, moving much faster than the previous three hurricanes so far this season.
“No one should take this storm lightly,” said Louisiana Governor John Bel Edwards. “We do want people to be very, very cautious and to not take this storm for granted.” Edwards added that the storm’s speed was “almost unheard of for a storm of this type.”
In some ways that is not a bad thing — it means the hurricane is more likely to blow itself out quickly as it moves over land and will have less time to drop a deluge on any one spot.
Alabama Governor Kay Ivey had already told residents in his state at a news conference on Friday, “It has become clear that Alabama, especially on our coast, will experience some of the worst conditions from this story. Alabamans, you must prepare and be vigilant. This is serious business.”