Hurricane Delta, now a Category 3 storm, is growing more powerful and threatening to hit Louisiana as early as Friday afternoon. Residents prepared by filling sandbags and boarding up windows for the sixth time in the last several months.
On Wednesday, the hurricane barreled through the Mexican resort areas of Cozumel and Cancun, where it caused some streets to collapse and knocked out power to 266,000 homes and businesses.
“It is very clear that Southwest Louisiana is going to get more of a punch from this than we would like to see, for sure, because we’re still trying to recover from Hurricane Laura,” Governor John Bel Edwards said Thursday.
Hurricane Delta had maximum sustained winds of 120 miles per hour as of 10:00 p.m. local time, according to the National Hurricane Center. The storm is currently about 285 miles south of Cameron, Louisiana, and is moving at about 12 mph.
The storm may strengthen slightly overnight, but is expected to weaken as it approaches the northern Gulf Coast, the hurricane center said.
As Hurricane Delta nears the Gulf Coast, Louisiana families are evacuating yet another hurricane this year.
Warren Grisso told CBS affiliate KLFY that he expected the storm to strike in his area. “I had a feeling after Marco, Sally and Laura that the next one would be coming right on top of us which looks like it is,” he said.
Grisso said he and his family are evacuating and leaving everything behind. “It’s just one of those things. Mother Nature picks her spot, now she’s gonna send her the bullseye,” he said.
Another resident said he and his family are also evacuating. Even though their home wasn’t damaged by Hurricane Laura, he told the outlet that the risk was too high.
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