By Daniel Trotta
(Reuters) – Hurricane Francine threatened New Orleans and the wider Gulf Coast as far east as the Alabama and Florida border on Wednesday, shutting down a quarter of oil and gas production in the Gulf while parishes across Louisiana issued evacuation orders.
Louisiana Governor Jeff Landry declared a state of emergency in anticipation of the storm that was due to make landfall just west of New Orleans on Wednesday afternoon, warning of torrential rainfall, damaging winds, and possible tornadoes.
U.S. President Joe Biden also declared a federal state of emergency for the state in order to expedite any needed relief or rescue efforts.
Several parishes, or counties, on or near the Louisiana Gulf Coast issued mandatory evacuation orders, and the state transportation department issued evacuation maps. The city of New Orleans was distributing sandbags at five sites.
“Damaging and life-threatening hurricane-force winds are expected in portions of southern Louisiana Wednesday, where a Hurricane Warning is in effect,” the U.S. National Hurricane Center said.
The hurricane center upgraded the former tropical storm to a hurricane on Tuesday night when maximum sustained winds reached 75 mph (120 kph), placing it at the low end of Category 1 on the Saffir-Simpson Hurricane scale.
While the Hurricane Center expected the storm to max out as a Category 1 before weakening over land, and a storm surge of up to 10 feet (3 meters), the private forecaster AccuWeather said it was likely to become a Category 2 storm with maximum sustained winds of 96 to 110 mph (154 to 177 kph).
AccuWeather also forecast a greater storm surge of up to 15 feet (4.5 meters) where Francine makes landfall.
The U.S. National Weather Service issued storm surge watches or warnings along the entire Gulf coast of Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama.
With the storm passing in a northeastern direction parallel to Texas coast on its way to Louisiana, oil and gas producers abandoned many of their Gulf of Mexico platforms, taking offline about a quarter of energy production, the U.S. Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement (BSEE) said on Tuesday.
The storm also stands to test liquefied natural gas (LNG) export plants recently built in the region, which is home to about 15% of U.S. oil production and 2% of natural gas output.
Any major storm near Louisiana evokes memories of Hurricane Katrina, the 2005 storm that devastated New Orleans and surrounding areas, killing nearly 1,400 people and causing $125 billion in damage, according to a 2023 hurricane center report.
(Reporting by Daniel Trotta; Editing by Christian Schmollinger)
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