Hurricane Francine makes landfall in Louisiana as a Category 2 storm; new tropical depression forms in Atlantic

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. — Hurricane Francine made landfall about 6 p.m. Wednesday in Terrebonne Parish, Louisiana, as a Category 2 storm with maximum sustained wind speeds of 100 mph, said the National Hurricane Center in its 6 p.m. update.

Meanwhile, a new depression has formed in the eastern Atlantic and could become a tropical storm in the next 24 hours.

A hurricane warning extended from Cameron, Louisiana, east to Grande Isle, at the end of the Mississippi River Delta. A hurricane watch was in effect for metropolitan New Orleans, Lake Maurepas and Lake Pontchartrain.

Life-threatening storm surge and heavy rainfall were the biggest threats, forecasters said.

The storm should bring 4 to 8 inches of rain, with local amounts to 12 inches, across eastern Louisiana, Mississippi, far southern Alabama and the western Florida Panhandle through Friday morning. Flash flooding and urban flooding are a risk.

Francine came ashore about 30 miles south-southwest of Morgan City, Louisiana.

A tropical storm watch and storm surge watch extended along the Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama coasts to the Florida border.

Francine will move north into Mississippi on Thursday, the hurricane center said.

As of 6 p.m. Wednesday, Francine was moving northeast at 17 mph. Hurricane-force winds extend up to 40 miles east of Hurricane Francine’s center while tropical-storm-force winds extend outward up to 140 miles.

If storm surge coincides with high tides, coastal Louisiana south and west of New Orleans, as well as parts of western Mississippi, could see surges from 5 feet to 10 feet high, forecasters said. The hurricane center said the deepest surge will be on the immediate coast, near and to the east of landfall, and the surge could cause “some overtopping of local levees.”

Meanwhile, several systems have emerged in the Atlantic including Tropical Depression Seven, which formed in the eastern Atlantic.

There are two systems east of the Caribbean; one has a 10% chance of formation in the next seven days, and the other has a 30% chance of developing.

Tropical Depression 7 has maximum sustained wind speeds of 35 mph, and is moving west-northwest at 18 mph. Forecasters said the depression could become a tropical storm by Thursday.

There’s also a disturbance off the southeast coast of the U.S. that has a 20% chance of cyclonic formation during the early part of next week.

Experts at Colorado State University issued a new forecast last Tuesday, predicting below-normal hurricane activity in the Atlantic for the next two weeks.

Overall, CSU experts predict 23 named storms in the 2024 season, leaving the possibility of 18 more before the season ends on Nov. 30. The average number of named storms between 1991 to 2020 is 14.4.

The next named storm will be Gordon.

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