The Delta has been downgraded from a hurricane to a hurricane a day after it hit the United States.
The National Hurricane Center in Miami said the delta arrived in southwest Louisiana on Friday evening as a hurricane with 2 strong winds of Category 2 hurricane but quickly weakened in a hurricane.
It still devastates communities in places like Lake Charles, which is still recovering from Hurricane Laura, which killed 27 people in Louisiana six weeks ago.
Laura’s wreckage still lined the streets, and city Mayor Nick Hunter said Delta has torn down tarpaulins from city homes.
He said: “I’m in a building right now with a tarpaulin and just the sound of the tarpaulin whistling on the building sounds like someone is pushing a sledgehammer on top of the building.”
Jean-Marie Gove, about 75 miles (121 kilometers) east of Lake Charfal, in Lafayette, lived in the area during Laura’s time and chose to become a hunter again during the Delta.
She said she could hear the wreckage crushing on the front door of her home on Friday night, which she described as “worse than Hurricane Laura.”
As the storm approached, the streets of Baker, Louisiana were flooded
“The wind is blowing the glass inwards from our windows,” he added. “It’s very scary.”
Delta cut power to 600,000 homes and businesses in Louisiana and Texas early Saturday, while Mississippi had power cuts to about 40,000 properties.
Delta’s maximum winds were 60mph as of Saturday morning, and it is expected to move toward the warmer tropics as it passes through the Tennessee Valley across northern Mississippi.
Delta was the fourth hurricane to hit Louisiana in 2020: Hurricane Marco flashed when it landed in southeastern Louisiana just three days before Laura. And Hurricane Cristobal hit southeastern Louisiana in June.
