Francine strengthens into hurricane ahead of expected Louisiana landfall

Francine, which developed in the Gulf of Mexico Monday, strengthened into a Category 1 hurricane Tuesday night and was forecast to make landfall Wednesday over Louisiana, the National Hurricane Center said.

Francine's was expected to make landfall in the state on Wednesday afternoon or Wednesday night, bringing "life-threatening storm surge and hurricane-force winds," the hurricane center said.

After landfall, Francine is forecast to move northward into Mississippi on Wednesday night and Thursday. Francine was forecast to "weaken quickly" after making landfall, the hurricane center said.

The storm "is expected to bring storm total rainfall of 4 to 8 inches, with local amounts to 12 inches across much of Louisiana and Mississippi through Friday morning," the center added. There is potential for "considerable" flash and urban flooding.

As of 11 p.m. ET Tuesday, Francine's center was about 185 miles northeast of the mouth of the Rio Grande and approximately 295 miles southwest of Morgan City, Louisiana, the hurricane center said. It was moving northeast across the western Gulf of Mexico at 10 mph, with maximum sustained winds of 75 mph.

The storm had turned eastward Tuesday morning and increased its speed slightly, as previous forecasts expected.

Louisiana Gov. Jeff Landry declared a state of emergency on Monday evening ahead of Francine's arrival.

"This State of Emergency will allow parishes statewide to have the resources to help protect the life, safety, and welfare of the citizens of Louisiana," Landry said on social media. "Throughout this process, we will remain in constant contact with local officals and first responders and will assist them in every step of the way."

In Morgan City, many business owners and residents were boarding up and evacuating Tuesday, with gas station lines getting longer throughout the day, and some even running out of fuel.

As an essential worker in a hospital maternity ward, Carole Duplantis of Houma, Louisiana, cannot evacuate.

"We deliver babies even through the hurricanes," Duplantis said.

She told CBS News she was using sandbags to protect her home, which is still under renovation from damage it sustained from Ida in 2021, which struck as a Category 4 hurricane.

"No, I am not recovered yet," Duplantis said of Ida.

More than 2.3 million people along the Gulf Coast are under hurricane warnings, according to the National Weather Service. A hurricane warning was in place for the Louisiana coast from Cameron east to Grand Isle. A tropical storm warning was in effect for the Texas and Louisiana coasts east of High Island to Cameron, as well as east of Grand Isle to the Alabama-Florida border, and for  metropolitan New Orleans and Louisiana's Lake Maurepas and Lake Pontchartrain.

"We don't take this storm lightly because of the movement towards the East, which is closer to us," said Randy Smith, sheriff of St. Tammany Parish north of New Orleans, in a news conference Tuesday. "We're prepared for any emergencies that arise."

Storm surge warnings were in effect for areas from Sabine Pass, Texas, eastward to the Mississippi-Alabama border. A storm surge watch extended across Alabama to the Florida border and included Mobile Bay.

"We all know that the current projected path of Francine looks like its headed toward Louisiana," Texas Gov. Greg Abbott said in a news conference Tuesday afternoon in the southeastern Texas city of Beaumont, which is in a region that could be impacted by Francine. "We also know, however, that storms, even in the recent past, sometimes can deviate from what the prediction is. So for one, we're concerned about the possibility of the storm altering its course, moving more towards Texas. In which case, the area that would be most likely challenged would be where we are right now, in Jefferson County, over in Orange County, and surrounding areas."         

He added that even if Francine stays on its current trajectory, Jefferson and Orange counties would still see "enormous challenges."

The Miami-based hurricane center explains that a hurricane warning means hurricane conditions are expected somewhere within the warning area, and it's typically issued hours before the earliest arrival of tropical-storm-force winds that would hinder weather preparations. A hurricane watch means hurricane conditions are possible within the watch area, and a storm surge warning means there's a danger of life-threatening inundation, from rising water moving inland from the coastline, during the next 36 hours in the indicated locations.

Forecasters said tropical storm conditions, including tropical-storm-force wind gusts, were possible along coastal portions of northeastern Mexico and southern Texas on Tuesday afternoon, and they could persist in parts of Texas into the night. Tropical storm weather was expected to arrive along the coasts of Louisiana, Mississippi and Texas on Wednesday and possibly in parts of coastal Alabama.

Francine's development followed an unusually calm August and early September in the Atlantic hurricane season. Francine is the Atlantic season's sixth named storm.

Experts had predicted one of the busiest Atlantic seasons ever and, The Associated Press notes, Colorado State University researchers said last week they still expect an above-normal season overall.

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