Hurricane Nate made landfall near the mouth of the Mississippi River Saturday evening as a Category 1 hurricane with 85 mph winds, forecasters said.
The National Hurricane Center said at 8 p.m. ET that the hurricane was making landfall and was moving north at around 20 mph. Hurricane warnings were in place from Grand Isle, Louisiana, to the Alabama-Florida border.
The hurricane is expected to make a second landfall along the Mississippi coast later Saturday night, the hurricane center said. The city of Biloxi, Miss., said that winds from the hurricane were approaching 55 mph shortly after 9 p.m. A curfew was in place until 9 a.m. Sunday.
The storm could bring dangerous storm surges to parts of the Gulf Coast, officials said.
While still a potentially dangerous storm, the hurricane could be at its strongest point.
“Strengthening now appears unlikely before Nate’s center reaches the Mississippi coast,” the hurricane center said in a bulletin. “Rapid weakening is expected after landfall, with Nate becoming a tropical depression by Sunday night.”
Hurricane warnings for metropolitan New Orleans and Lake Pontchartrain were downgraded to tropical storm warnings, according to the hurricane center.
Preparations have been underway along the Gulf Coast ahead of the storm. States of emergency have been declared in Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama. New Orleans Mayor Mitch Landrieu had imposed a citywide curfew from 6 p.m. until Sunday morning, but after hurricane warnings were canceled the curfew was called off Saturday night.
“This is a very dangerous situation for our citizens,” Jackson County, Mississippi, Director of Emergency Services Earl Etheridge said at a news conference.
Etheridge said there could be storm surges of 11 to 12 feet in coastal parts of the county, which is on the coast next to the Alabama border. Voluntary evacuations were issued for southern parts of the county, he said.
In New Orleans, Tulane University, which had a total enrollment of more than 13,000 in the 2016-2017 year, closed its campus to everyone but on-campus students and essential personnel. Although the hurricane warnings were downgraded to tropical storm warnings for the city, New Orleans recommended that “people shelter in place and use caution” due to high winds.
Plaquemines Parish, southeast of New Orleans, evacuated some 240 residents who were not protected by its levee system as the storm approached.
“While it appears we’re being spared … our hearts go out to Mississippi,” Amos Cormier, president of the parish, which is in a low-lying area, told Reuters.
After making a second landfall in Mississippi, the storm was expected to pass over portions of that state, Alabama and Tennessee through Sunday night, the hurricane center said.
The storm has already been blamed for deaths in Nicaragua, Costa Rica and Honduras, officials said. Sixteen people were reported dead in Nicaragua, 10 deaths were reported in Costa Rica and one death was reported in Honduras, officials said.
