New Orleans braces for Hurricane Francine; evacuations ordered by Reuters

By Daniel Trotta

(Reuters) – Hurricane Francine threatened New Orleans and the broader Gulf Coast to the Alabama-Florida border on Wednesday, shutting down a quarter of Gulf oil and gas production as Louisiana parishes issued evacuation orders.

Louisiana Gov. Jeff Landry declared a state of emergency as the storm made landfall west of New Orleans Wednesday afternoon, warning of torrential rain, damaging winds and possible tornadoes.

US President Joe Biden also declared a federal state of emergency for the state to expedite any relief or rescue efforts needed.

Several parishes, or counties, on or near the Louisiana Gulf Coast have issued mandatory evacuation orders, and the state transportation department has issued evacuation maps. The city of New Orleans was distributing sandbags at five locations.

“Damaging and life-threatening hurricane-force winds are expected Wednesday across portions of southern Louisiana, where a hurricane warning is in effect,” the US National Hurricane Center said.

The Hurricane Center upgraded the former tropical storm to a hurricane Tuesday night when maximum sustained winds reached 75 mph (120 km/h), placing it at the lower end of Category 1 on the Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Scale.

While the Hurricane Center expected the storm to become a Category 1 maximum before weakening on land and a storm surge of up to 10 feet (3 meters), private forecaster AccuWeather said it was likely to become a Category 1 storm 2 with a sustained maximum. winds of 96 to 110 mph (154 to 177 km/h).

AccuWeather also forecast a larger storm surge of up to 15 feet (4.5 meters) where Francine makes landfall.

The US National Weather Service has issued storm surge watches or warnings along the entire Gulf Coast of Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama.

As the storm moved northeast, parallel to the Texas coast, en route to Louisiana, oil and gas producers abandoned many of their Gulf of Mexico rigs, taking about a quarter of their energy production offline, the U.S. Office of Safety and Environmental Enforcement (BSEE). ) said Tuesday.

The storm will also test recently built export liquefied natural gas (LNG) plants in the region, which is home to about 15 percent of U.S. oil production and 2 percent of natural gas production.

Any major storm near Louisiana conjures up memories of Hurricane Katrina, the 2005 storm that devastated New Orleans and surrounding areas, killing nearly 1,400 people and causing $125 billion in damage, according to a report from the U.S. National Hurricane Center. 2023.