Life-threatening conditions set for Gulf Coast

Residents in Baton Rouge were collecting sandbags at Cadillac Street Park in preparation of Tropical Storm Francine’s landfall in the state as a hurricane tomorrow.

Jynita Christmas told NBC News that she hopes the impact of the storm isn’t major.

“Hopefully it doesn’t do too much to us,” Christmas said, adding “I’m hopeful that is what it is, just a lot of rain and wind.”

Christmas said she’s concerned the rain may cause flooding in her area.

“When it rains a little bit, the area I stay in, it kind of floods,” she said.

Christmas said she’d been up since 7 a.m. making trips to the grocery store and trying to find sandbags to help prepare her home for the incoming storm.

Tropical Storm Francine is likely to strengthen to a hurricane later today or tonight ahead of making landfall in Louisiana tomorrow.

“On the forecast track, Francine is anticipated to be just offshore of the coasts of northeastern Mexico and southern Texas through this afternoon, and then move across the northwestern Gulf of Mexico, making landfall in Louisiana on Wednesday,” the hurricane center said. “After landfall, the center is expected to move into Mississippi on Wednesday night or Thursday.”

Francine is expected to bring 4 to 12 inches of rain and damaging winds to Louisiana. A few tornadoes are also possible tomorrow morning near the coasts of Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and the Florida Panhandle, the hurricane center said in an update this morning.

The storm is currently about 120 miles southeast of the mouth of the Rio Grande with maximum sustained winds of 65 mph. It’s moving north-northeastward at 8 mph across the Gulf of Mexico.

A hurricane warning is still in effect for the Louisiana coast from Sabine Pass east to Grand Isle. A storm surge warning has been issued from the mouth of the Mississippi River east to the Mississippi and Alabama border.

A tropical storm warning is in effect for the Mississippi coast from the mouth of the Pearl River to the Mississippi and Alabama border, according to the hurricane center.

Louisiana Gov. Jeff Landry has declared a state of emergency ahead of Tropical Storm Francine’s forecasted landfall in the state tomorrow.

Francine is expected to strengthen into a hurricane before making landfall in the state, according to the National Hurricane Center.

The storm is expected to bring 4 to 12 inches of rain to the state as well as damaging winds and a few potential tornadoes tomorrow morning near the coasts of Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and the Florida Panhandle, the hurricane center said in an update this morning.

“This State of Emergency will allow parishes statewide to have the resources to help protect the life, safety, and welfare of the citizens of Louisiana,” Landry said in a statement, adding that his administration will stay in contact with local officials and first responders.

Louisiana State University announced that its campus will be closed today and classes will be held remotely Wednesday and Thursday.

The university previously said that it will remain open today, but released an updated statement announcing the campus closure. All events on campus starting at 4:30 p.m. today will also be canceled through to Thursday.

Tropical Storm Francine is expected to make landfall on the Louisiana coast tomorrow as a hurricane, according to the National Hurricane Center. LSU is located in Baton Rouge, near the coast, and is forecast to see tropical storm conditions.

“LSU residence halls and on-campus apartments will remain open and food will be available to on-campus residents,” LSU said in a statement. The university also advised students living on-campus to be ready to shelter in place, and students living off-campus to gather emergency supplies and consider safer shelter if needed.

Another part of low-lying, coastal Louisiana has told its residents to leave ahead of Tropical Storm Francine, which is due to hit the state tomorrow as a Category 1 hurricane.

Terrebonne Parish, south of Baton Rouge, with a population of more than 100,000, issued an emergency declaration this morning and told people to leave the area by no later than 6 a.m. tomorrow.

The area is famous for its Cajun culture and use of Louisiana French.

Tropical Storm Francine is expected to intensify into a Category 2 hurricane as it rapidly moves toward the northern Gulf Coast and Louisiana. NBC News’ Bill Karins gives the latest update on wind speeds and flooding potential.

This morning, Francine remains a tropical storm with sustained winds of 65 mph — but it’s expected to strengthen into a hurricane as it begins to move northeast toward the Gulf Coast.

Tropical storm force conditions are expected to arrive along the Upper Texas Coast between 2 p.m. and 8 p.m. ET today and along the Louisiana coast by 2 a.m. ET tomorrow. Francine is expected to make landfall tomorrow afternoon or evening as a hurricane somewhere along the Louisiana coast. 

One update to the forecast compared to yesterday is a slight nudge to the east for possible landfall, putting Baton Rouge and New Orleans at higher risk for impacts. However, we are in the timeframe where changes in the track are expected — i.e. the windshield effect — so all locations from Lake Charles to New Orleans remain in the cross-hairs.

For southern Louisiana, rainfall amounts of up to 12 inches and wind gusts in excess of 100 mph will be possible through tomorrow across Louisiana.

The areas covered by hurricane and storm surge warnings have been expanded by the National Hurricane Center, as Tropical Storm Francine slowly edges towards the Louisiana coastline.

A hurricane warning now stretches from Sabine Pass on the Louisiana-Texas border, all the way to Grand Isle, south of New Orleans — covering almost all of Louisiana’s Gulf Coast.

The area covered by a tropical storm warning was widened to the Louisiana coast east of Grand Isle, to include the New Orleans metro area.

Potentially dangerous storm surges are expected from the mouth of the Mississippi River, near New Orleans, to the Mississippi-Alabama border, over the next 36 hours.

The people of New Orleans have been urged to complete any preparations for Tropical Storm Francine by tonight and to strongly consider staying at home tomorrow and Thursday. The city is under a tropical storm watch.

City leaders told a news conference last night that the storm is expected to become a category 1 hurricane and could have a severe effect on the city and wider region.

New Orleans Office of Homeland Security and Emergency Preparedness Director Collin Arnold said: “We do believe that this is a shelter-in-place scenario storm and that the public should pay a lot of attention to this.”

People in at-risk areas of Louisiana should have a plan in place and be aware of the dangers of the storm, Louisiana Gov. Jeff Landry said at a news conference last night.

“We want everyone in that state to be cautious and vigilant. We don’t want to downplay this event, but we also do not want people to panic,” he said.

Landry passed a state-wide emergency declaration last night and there are 23 local emergency declarations across the state, a number that could increase.

Satellite images captured by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration show Tropical Storm Francine building in the Gulf of Mexico in the early hours of this morning.

Shoppers in a suburb of New Orleans gather food supplies at a grocery store yesterday as Tropical Storm Francine is expected to make landfall in Louisiana.

Dangerous coastal storm surges of up to 10 feet are a major concern ahead of Francine’s arrival in the U.S. The Louisiana coast from Cameron to Port Fourchon and Vermilion Bay could see between 5 and 10 feet of storm surge.

“The deepest water will occur along the immediate coast near and to the east of the landfall location, where the surge will be accompanied by large and dangerous waves,” the National Hurricane Center said.

In addition, 4 to 8 inches of rain is expected from northeast Mexico to Mississippi, with 12 inches forecast in some areas. There will also be “life-threatening surf and rip current conditions,” the NHC said.

People living in low-lying, coastal areas of Louisiana have been strongly advised or ordered to move inland ahead of Francine’s arrival on Wednesday.

Cameron Parish, a coastal community between Lafayette and Houston, where the storm is expected to make landfall, is subject to a mandatory evacuation order as of 6 a.m. today.

Grand Isle, a Louisiana town on a narrow stretch of land in the Gulf of Mexico, issued a voluntary evacuation for residents and a mandatory evacuation order for campers and RVs.

Meanwhile, Pass Christian, Mississippi, strongly advised the evacuation of Pass Christian Harbor.