Hurricane Delta leaves over half a million without power in Louisiana

October 10, 2020October 10, 2020 WKXA

ABC NewsBY: REED MCDONOUGH AND EMILY SHAPIRO, ABC NEWS

(NEW ORLEANS) — Over half a million customers are waking up without power in Louisiana after Hurricane Delta blew through Friday night.

“Delta has left hazards like flooded roads, downed power lines and displaced wildlife in our communities that no one should take lightly,” Gov. John Bel Edwards tweeted Saturday. “Everyone needs to remain vigilant, continue to listen to local officials and be safe.”

Delta made landfall Friday evening in Louisiana as a Category 2 hurricane, hitting land just 12 miles from where Hurricane Laura slammed into the state in August. Louisiana has attributed 30 deaths to Laura, according to the governor.

Wind gusts climbed to 97 mph in Lake Charles, Louisiana, and 89 mph in Cameron, Louisiana.

Over half a million customers are waking up without power in Louisiana after Hurricane Delta blew through Friday night.

Wind gusts climbed to 97 mph in Lake Charles, Louisiana, and 89 mph in Cameron, Louisiana.

Near Iowa, Louisiana, more than 17 inches of rain fell. In Lake Charles, more than 15 inches of rain was recorded. The highest storm surge recorded was just over 9 feet along parts of the south-central Louisiana coast.

In hard-hit Lake Charles, where there are still blue tarps on house roofs from Laura, mayor Nic Hunter said some houses did get flooding from Delta.

Electricity is out across the city and Hunter is urging residents to not come back to their homes if possible on Saturday.

Delta has since weakened to a tropical storm, but the threat is not over.

Delta is expected to bring torrential rain to parts of Texas, Louisiana, Arkansas, Mississippi and Tennessee through Saturday night.

A few brief spin-up tornadoes are possible on the eastern side of Delta’s center through Saturday, which means there is a slight risk of severe weather for parts of Alabama and Georgia.

Delta will then move up to the Mid-Atlantic and Northeast by Monday morning.

Delta broke a record when it became the first time a 10th-named storm made landfall in the continental U.S. within one Atlantic hurricane season.

The other nine named storms that made landfall this season were: Tropical Storm Bertha (South Carolina); Tropical Storm Cristobal (Louisiana); Tropical Storm Fay (New Jersey); Hurricane Hanna (Texas); Hurricane Isaias (North Carolina); Hurricane Laura (Louisiana); Tropical Storm Marco (Louisiana), Hurricane Sally (Alabama); and Tropical Storm Beta (Texas).