Hurricane Delta has impacted aground in Louisiana.
The Category 2 ‘cane made landfall close to the shore town of Creole at 7 p.m. Eastern time Friday, as per the National Hurricane Center.
Delta is currently lashing the coast with most extreme continued winds of up to 100 mph, the NHC said.
By 12 PM, almost 500,000 were without power, Fox News in New Orleans announced.
In Louisiana, 360,104 customers suffered power outage; in Texas, that number was 108,594, and in Mississippi, 7,320.
“Please stay safe and vigilant,” the state’s Gov. John Bel Edwards tweeted, along with an aerial photo of the hurricane hitting the state.
Storm surges of what forecasters have called “life threatening,” heights were expected, and already measured at more than eight feet above ground level along the state’s central shore.
The eastern Texas coast was also expected to see surge damage.
Delta is continuing its north-eastern path across the center of Louisiana at around 14 miles per hour, the NHC said.
Water spouts, tornadoes and rainfalls of up to 10 inches were predicted to also plague the state into Saturday.
“We just got lights back on like two weeks ago and then it’s evacuating again?” said Roslyn Kennedy after abandoning her house in Lake Charles, where 95 percent of homes were damaged by Hurricane Laura.
It’s the sixth time just this season that Louisiana has been threatened by a major storm or hurricane.
Some 12,000 evacuees were in shelters and rescue teams were standing by to help those who stayed behind, Louisiana officials said.
The Louisiana National Guard tweeted it had stockpiled 1.6 million meals, 1.5 million liters of water, 43,000 pounds of ice and 39,000 tarps.
The guard was prepared to respond with 2,590 guardsmen, 122 high water vehicles and additional helicopters and watercraft.
