Hurricane Delta Strengthens, Approaches Louisiana

Dallas Morning News

In a matter of 30 hours, a tropical depression with winds up to 35 mph dramatically intensified into a Category 4 hurricane.

Hurricane Delta was blowing winds up to 130 mph Tuesday morning, and is expected to make landfall in Louisiana by this weekend.

Before it reaches the Gulf Coast, Delta is expected to make an initial landfall on the Yucatán Peninsula by Wednesday morning, according to the National Hurricane Center. When it does, the hurricane center cautioned that Delta could produce an “extremely dangerous storm surge” up to 9 feet, produce up to 6 inches of rain, and significant flash flooding.

After moving through the Yucatán Peninsula, Delta is expected to move over the Gulf of Mexico and further strengthen before making landfall somewhere along the Louisiana coastline, according to the hurricane center.

Upon landfall in the U.S., the hurricane center warned that there was a growing likelihood of a “life-threatening storm surge and dangerous hurricane-force winds” long the Louisiana and Mississippi coastline as early as Friday.

“Residents in these areas should ensure they have a hurricane plan in place,” the hurricane center said in a forecast update.

New Orleans Mayor LaToya Cantrell urged residents to prepare by securing property, gathering emergency supplies as well as food, water and medications.

“We cannot become complacent with the weather or covid19,” Cantrell said in a tweet Tuesday morning.

Delta intensified into a Category 4 hurricane faster than any other storm on record in the Atlantic, according to Sam Lillo, a researcher for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, or NOAA. The last storm to intensify so quickly was Hurricane Celia in 1970, which strengthened from a tropical depression to hurricane with winds up to 115 mph in a 30-hour span.

This year has been an abnormally active hurricane season. On average, the Atlantic doesn’t see its 11th named storm of the season until late November, according to NOAA. Hurricane Delta is the 26th named storm of the year.