Francine becomes a hurricane in Gulf of Mexico, warnings in effect along Louisiana coast

Francine became a hurricane Tuesday evening as the stormbarrelled toward south Louisiana, strengthening over extremely warm waters as those in possible harm's way rushed to complete storm preparations, filling sandbags, buying gas and stocking up on necessities for an expected landfall in the coming day.

The U.S. National Hurricane Center(NHC)said Tuesday night that the storm powered up its maximum sustained winds to 120 km/hand gained Category 1 hurricane status about 563 kilometres southwest of Morgan City, La.

Francine was moving northeast at 17 km/h,the Miami-based NHCsaid in an advisory.

A hurricane warning is in effect along the Louisiana coast from the border with Texas eastward to Grand Isle, nearly 130kilometressouth of New Orleans.

TheNHC further said that life-threatening storm surge and hurricane-force winds are expected to begin in Louisiana on Wednesday.

Storm surge warnings also are in effect in Texas.

There's also the potential for 100 to 200 millimetresof rain with the possibility of 300 millimetres locally across much of Louisiana and Mississippi through Friday morning, saidBrad Reinhart, a senior hurricane specialist at the NHC.

Evacuation orders have been issued in some coastal Louisiana communities and residents have begun filling sandbags in preparation for heavy rains and widespread flooding.

Louisiana Gov. Landry said the National Guard is being deployed to parishes that could be impacted by Francine.

They are equipped with food, water, nearly 400 high-water vehicles, about 100 boats and 50 helicopters to respond to the storm, including possible search-and-rescue operations.

Forecasters warned Francinewas expected to crash ashore perhaps even as a Category 2 storm with winds of 155 to 175 km/h.

Helping the storm gain hurricane status Tuesday night were the Gulf of Mexico'sexceedingly warm, late-summer waters.

Water temperatures are about 31Cwhere Francine is located, said Brian McNoldy, senior research associate at the University of Miami's Rosenstiel School of Marine, Atmosphericand Earth Science.

"The ocean heat content averaged over the entire Gulf is the highest it's been on record for the date," McNoldy wrote in ablog post.

Residents, especially in south Louisiana, have a 24-hour window to "batten down all the hatches," Landry warned at midday while Francine was still a tropical storm.

Once Francine makes landfall, Landry said, residents should stay in place rather than venturing out onto the roads and risk blocking first responders or utility crews working to repair power lines.

Ahead of the storm's approach, lifelong New Orleans resident Roxanne Riley, 42, gathered water, snacks and other food from a Walmart and said she planned to stay at a family member's house on high ground to avoid flooding.

But she was ready to leave if things got worse.

"It's very frustrating every time a storm comes in," Riley said. "I'll just make sure my car is ready to roll in case I need to go by tomorrow. I'm going to keep on checking to see what it's looking like."

In downtown New Orleans during the day, cars and trucks were lined up for blocks to collect sandbags from the parking lot of a local YMCA.

CEO Erika Mann said Tuesday that 1,000 bags of sand had already been distributed by volunteers later Tuesday.

"I love that these are community people that came out," Mann said.

"It's a beautiful effort to do what we do in New Orleans, we're resilient and we come together to help in the times we need each other."

One resident picking up sandbags was Wayne Grant, 33, who moved to New Orleans last year and was nervous for his first potential hurricane in the city.

The low-lying rental apartment he shares with his partner had already flooded out in a storm the year before and he was not taking any chances this time around.

"It was like a kick in the face, we've been trying to stay up on the weather ever since," Grant said. "We're super invested in the place, even though it's not ours."

Francine, the sixth named storm of the Atlantic hurricane season,is taking aim at a Louisiana coastline that has yet to fully recover since hurricanes Laura and Delta decimated Lake Charles in 2020, followed a year later by Hurricane Ida.