Weakened Tropical Depression Francine moved inland Thursday after hitting Louisiana as a Category 2 storm, leaving hundreds of miles of lives and businesses without power, unleashing a storm surge in coastal areas and raising concerns about flooding in New Orleans and elsewhere.
As emergency crews began clearing roads, utility workers began restoring power and neighbors helped retrieve rocks. There were no reports of deaths or injuries at that time, Gov. Jeff Landry said.
“The human spirit is defined by its resilience, and resilience is what defines Louisiana,” Landry said at a news conference. “There are definitely times and situations that test us, but that’s also when we’re at our best in this state.”
At the height of the storm, about 450,000 people in Louisiana were without power, according to data released by the Public Services Commission. Many of the backyards were linked to fire pits, not structural damage.
At one point, about 500 people were taking refuge in emergency shelters, according to state officials.
“The amount of money that has been invested in resilience has really made a difference, from the energy flows to the amount of people that have been saved,” said Deanne Criswell, administrator of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, who attended the governor’s press conference.
The storm dumped up to 6 inches (15 centimeters) of rain in parts of Mississippi, Arkansas, Tennessee and Georgia and up to 10 inches (25 centimeters) in parts of Alabama and Florida, according to forecasters, who warned of flooding as far away as Jackson, Mississippi; Birmingham, Alabama; Memphis, Tennessee; and Atlanta.
Francine ran aground on the Louisiana coast at 155 kilometers per hour in the Terrebonne district, a fragile coastal region that has not yet fully recovered from a series of devastating hurricanes in 2020 and 2021. After quickly moving toward Nueva Orleans and dumping torrential rains on the city.
The Hurricane National Center downgraded Francine to a tropical storm and a tropical depression with strong winds of 35 mph as it moved northward into Mississippi.
The system is hoped to continue to weaken and transition into a post-tropical cycle as the day progresses, before slowing and moving across central and northern Mississippi in the early morning hours.
Francine, the sixth named storm of the Atlantic hurricane season, gained strength due to extremely high water temperatures in the Gulf of Mexico,
In addition to torrential rains, Florida and Alabama were at risk of tornadoes triggered by the youthful snowstorm.
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