FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. _ Hurricane Delta, which is at the upper limit of a Category 2 storm with 110 mph winds, is expected to make landfall on the southwest Louisiana coast late Friday afternoon or Friday evening with potentially life-threatening floods, according to the 2 p.m. update from the National Hurricane Center.
Delta is forecast turn to the north-northeast in the next few hours and slam into the state as a Category 2 storm, the hurricane center said. Category 2 hurricanes on the Saffir-Simpson scale have wind speeds between 96 and 110 mph. Category 3 hurricanes have wind speeds between 111 and 129 mph.
As Delta gets closer to Louisiana the storm is losing a little steam as it encounters less oceanic heat, more wind shear and dry air, the NHC said.
However, as NHC spokesman Dennis Feltgen said earlier this week, "I would challenge anyone to tell me the difference in damage between 105 and 110 (mph winds)."
Entergy, the Louisiana electric company, estimated about 7,555 of its customers were without power Friday afternoon, according to The Weather Channel. In Texas, west of Delta's projected landfall, about 7,800 customers were without electricity, according to The Weather Channel.
Delta remains a relatively fast-moving storm. The NHC said Delta is "expected to weaken to a tropical storm tonight and to a tropical depression by Saturday afternoon or evening."
Regardless, heavy rain and a storm surge up to 11 feet are expected along portions of the northern Gulf Coast on Friday.
"The combination of a dangerous storm surge and the tide will cause normally dry areas near the coast to be flooded by rising waters moving inland from the shoreline," the hurricane center said Friday morning.
As of 2 p.m., Delta _ the earliest 25th-named storm ever to form _ was located 80 miles south-southwest of Cameron, Louisiana, traveling north-northeast at 14 mph with maximum sustained winds at 110 mph.
Delta, which is on the last part of its journey over the western Gulf of Mexico, is expected to make landfall about 10 or 20 miles east of where Hurricane Laura made landfall as a Category 4 hurricane about six weeks ago.
Delta's hurricane-force winds extend outward from its core up to 40 miles and its tropical-storm-force winds extend 160 miles.
The NHC's 2 p.m. advisory said the Texas Coastal Ocean Observation Network station at Texas Point recently reported sustained winds of 50 mph and a wind gust of 57 mph) while Lake Charles (La.) Regional Airport recently reported a wind gust of 60 mph.
Delta's threatening size is causing a large risk of life-threatening storm surge along the Gulf Coast where the tide will cause normally dry areas to be flooded by rising waters moving inland as high as 7 to 11 feet from the Rockefeller Wildlife Refuge to Morgan City, Louisiana.
A storm surge warning is in effect for High Island, Texas, to the mouth of the Pearl River, Louisiana including Calcasieu Lake, Vermilion Bay and Lake Borgne.
A hurricane warning is in effect for High Island, Texas, to Morgan City, Louisiana.
A tropical storm warning is in effect for west of High Island to Sargent, Texas, east of Morgan City, Louisiana, to the mouth of the Pearl River, including New Orleans, Lake Pontchartrain and Lake Maurepas.
Although the most intense thunderstorms in Delta are still west of the eye the biggest threat of tornadoes remains in the right front quadrant of the storm.
"The reason for that," said John Cangialosi, hurricane specialist at the National Weather Service Office in Miami, "is that winds are typically stronger on that side because it is moving in the same direction of the motion and the wind is typically coming onshore, assuming the system is making landfall, which can drag storm surge and bring the stronger winds inland."
There is potential for dangerous and prolonged flash flooding and river flooding in the region, according to the hurricane center.
Delta has been, or will be, a noteworthy storm on a few levels. Among the notable marks:
_First hurricane named after a letter in the Greek alphabet to make landfall in the continental U.S.;
_Second storm named after a letter in the Greek alphabet to make landfall in the continental U.S. after Tropical Storm Beta, which made landfall near Port O'Connor, Texas, on Sept. 21;
_Strongest storm ever named after a letter in the Greek alphabet, eclipsing Hurricane Beta (2005), which reached 115 mph;
_Fastest storm to intensify from tropical depression to Category 4 storm in modern records. Delta beat Hurricane Keith (2000) by six hours for most rapid intensification;
_The 10th named storm to make landfall in the continental U.S., beating the record nine established in 1916;
_Fourth named storm to make landfall in Louisiana this year, joining Tropical Storms Cristobal and Marco and Hurricane Laura. That ties a mark established in 2002 among Tropical Storms Bertha, Hanna, Isidore and Hurricane Lilli. More than 6,600 Laura evacuees remain in hotels around the state, mainly in New Orleans, because their homes are too heavily damaged to return;
Earliest 25th-named storm ever to form. The previous mark was established by Tropical Storm Gamma, which formed in the Caribbean Sea on Nov. 15, 2005;
_Third major hurricane of the 2020 season, joining Laura and Teddy, which both were Category 4;
_Second-strongest hurricane in the Atlantic basin this year at 145 mph, just 5 mph behind Laura.
The busy 2020 hurricane season, which has had 25 named storms, is rivaling the 2005 season, which had a record 27 named storms.
Remarkably, none of the nine storms that have made landfall in the continental U.S. this year have hit Florida. October storms often threaten Florida as they move north and then northeastward.
The Gulf Coast hasn't been nearly as fortunate.
The region was hit twice in September. Hurricane Sally made landfall on Sept. 16 near Gulf Shores, Ala., five days before Tropical Storm Beta.
Two storms hit the Gulf Coast in August in a 72-hour stretch when Hurricane Laura and Tropical Storm Marco came ashore.
July had Hurricane Hanna make landfall in south Texas, and June had Tropical Storm Cristobal make landfall in Louisiana.
Delta made landfall Wednesday in Mexico along the northeastern coast of the Yucatan Peninsula.
Delta underwent rapid intensification Tuesday, which is defined as an increase of maximum sustained winds by at least 35 mph in a 24-hour period.
Because 2020 is a La Nina year, forecasters expect late-season storm activity to increase in October and possibly even carry into November.
Accordingly, the NHC is also watching an area of disorganized showers and thunderstorms in the far eastern Atlantic. The area has a near-zero chance of development in the next 48 hours and a 20% of development in the next 5 days, the hurricane center said.
Hurricane season officially ends Nov. 30.
