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(CNN) –– Hurricane Delta intensified to Category 3 on Thursday afternoon. Now, it could hit Southwest Louisiana with similar force on Friday, according to the National Hurricane Center (NHC). Delta is expected to make landfall in the US along the same area of southwestern Louisiana where Hurricane Laura struck just six weeks ago.
Conditions “look favorable for strengthening” for the next 12 hours, the NHC said in its latest forecast. And he added that “based on this, further escalation is expected tonight.”
In that sense, its scope is expected to grow. So hurricane force winds could soon sweep across a stretch of the Texas coastline.
Delta will be a “great storm that will extend 225 kilometers from its center”, with gusts that will reach the Baton Rouge area. This was indicated this Thursday by Ben Schott, meteorologist in charge of the National Weather Service station in New Orleans.
Hurricane Delta is already a record system after hitting the Yucatán Peninsula in Mexico. It is now forecast to bring “life threatening” storm surges and dangerous winds to communities along the US Gulf Coast, the NHC said. This before leaving heavy rains inland in the coming days, the entity said.
“You don’t have time after today to prepare for this storm,” warned CNN meteorologist Chad Myers. Tomorrow will be too late.
Hurricane Warning by Delta Extends
Delta’s maximum sustained winds have increased to 185 km / h miles per hour as it moves northwest at 19 km / h, about 555 kilometers south of Cameron, Louisiana, the hurricane center said at 5 p.m., Miami time, this Thursday. Storm surge is still expected to reach over 3 meters in some places. Also that hurricane force winds hit the coast on Friday afternoon, the NHC said.
A hurricane warning by Delta has been extended to the west. It now spans from High Island in Texas to Morgan City, Louisiana. There is also a storm surge warning. It runs from High Island to Ocean Springs, Mississippi, including Lake Pontchartrain and Lake Borgne.
This Thursday, a tropical storm warning was issued for the coast of Texas, west of the San Luis pass to Sargent, according to the NHC.
The most significant threats Delta poses to Texas are high surf (waves higher than normal), beach erosion and coastal flooding, the National Weather Service offices in Houston said in an update Thursday.
Evacuations
Delta is forecast to hit the same southwestern Louisiana communities affected by Hurricane Laura six weeks ago. This system arrived as a Category 4 hurricane. Many homeowners are still homeless after Laura devastated homes and destroyed parts of the power grid, Myers said.
In Lake Charles, blue tarps still cover the shattered roofs of houses damaged by Laura. The local mayor urged residents to evacuate Thursday night, before Delta makes landfall.
“I know we’ve been through a lot and I know we’re tired,” Mayor Nic Hunter said Thursday. “But we have a job to do right now, and that job is to keep us safe, and yours is to keep you and your family safe.”
Kerry Anderson, whose Lake Charles home was damaged by Laura, said residents are “exhausted” from repairing their community as they face the threat of another major hurricane.
“I think the word is actually disbelief,” he told CNN affiliate KPRC. Like, how could this be happening again?
Parts of Louisiana could register more than 10 feet of water
Delta could unleash a powerful storm surge that will flood areas near the coast that are generally dry, the National Hurricane Center said.
Almost the entire Louisiana Gulf Coast is under a storm surge warning, the NHC added in an update. Storm surge occurs when “the wind from a strong storm pushes the water toward shore,” explained CNN meteorologist Brandon Miller. “The wind literally piles up the ocean water and pushes it towards the land.”
Areas from the Rockefeller Wildlife Refuge to Port Fourchon in Louisiana, including Vermilion Bay, could register up to 10 feet of water. Meanwhile, places from Holly Beach, Louisiana, to the refuge could see up to 2 meters of water, the hurricane center said.
The areas between High Island, Texas and Sabine Island, Louisiana, are expected to experience 60 to 120 centimeters of storm surge. The mouth of the Mississippi River could record the same.
Delta could also drop up to 10 inches of rain on Friday and Saturday to the southwest in south-central Louisiana, the center said. As the storm moves inland, the Ohio Valley and the Mid-Atlantic could also see several inches of rain.
The risk of flash flooding from Hurricane Delta
As a result, “significant” flash floods are likely to occur in southwest Louisiana on Friday and Saturday, according to the NHC.
Cameron Parish, which is further west on the Louisiana coast, ordered a mandatory evacuation for “most” of the residents, the Office of Homeland Security and Emergency Preparedness said in a news release.
“These are unprecedented circumstances and we realize that a large part of our residents are still displaced due to Laura,” said the entity.
Officials also issued a mandatory evacuation in Calcasieu parish. They indicated that they expect the strong winds to begin Thursday night. Hurricane conditions are anticipated in the warning area for Friday night, the hurricane center said.
