With hurricane and “life-threatening storm surge” warnings in effect from eastern Texas to Mississippi, U.S. forecasters say Hurricane Delta made landfall Friday night in central Louisiana at almost the same spot on the southern U.S. Gulf Coast as Hurricane Laura six weeks earlier.In its latest report, the National Hurricane Center said Delta struck with maximum sustained winds of about 155 kph, making it a Category 2 on the Saffir-Simpson scale used to gauge hurricane strength. The center said the hurricane is expected to weaken rapidly as the storm center moves inland.A storm surge warning remains in effect from High Island, Texas, to the mouth of the Pearl River on the Louisiana-Mississippi border, while a hurricane warning is in effect from High Island, Texas, to Morgan City, Louisiana. Forecasters said the storm surge could be from 2 to 3.5 meters.Delta is the latest in a series of hurricanes to strike the U.S. Gulf Coast this year, with the Category 4 Hurricane Laura striking in late August, leaving 27 dead. Much of the region, particularly the small community of Cameron, Louisiana, and the city of Lake Charles, Louisiana, about 48 kilometers inland from where Delta came ashore, is still recovering from Laura.Delta hit Mexico’s Yucatan Peninsula Wednesday as a Category 2 storm, flooding streets, knocking down trees and leaving hundreds of thousands without power. Authorities reported no deaths or injuries from the storm.Delta is the 25th named storm of the Atlantic hurricane season and is the earliest-forming 25th storm of any hurricane season on record.
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