Hurricane Nate Makes Landfall: Fastest Moving Storm On Record

NEW ORLEANS, LA — Hurricane Nate sprinted toward landfall, moving faster than any hurricane on record, slamming into the mouth of the Mississippi River just before 7 p.m. local time Saturday as a Category 1 storm. Nate is now headed for Mississippi, where another landfall is expected, bringing with it threats of dangerous storm surges, including the potential for 11-foot walls of water crashing onto parts of the mainland.

The storm, packing winds gusting as high as 90 mph, has a region roughly from Morgan City, Louisiana, to Pensacola, Florida, in its bullseye. The storm was expected to pass to the east of New Orleans, its quick speed sparing the city of ferocious winds, powerful storm surges and prolonged rain that would have taxed the city's weakened drainage pump system. A 7 p.m. curfew remained in effect, leaving the all-night party city's streets, typically teeming with people on a typical Saturday night, less crowded.

Gulfport and Biloxi on the Mississippi coast remained on high alert Saturday evening. Nate has already dumped large amounts of rain on Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama, and storm surges could increase the misery. Forecasters say 3 to 6 inches of rain, with isolated heavier amounts of up to 10 inches, are possible. (Sign up for newsletters and real-time news alerts from New Orleans Patch, or find your local Louisiana Patch here. If you have an iPhone, click here to get the free Patch iPhone app.)

A pair of water rescues took place as Nate kicked up high waves and winds earlier Saturday. The first rescue was around noon Saturday, when the Coast Guard helped two people off a 41-foot sailboat that lost its engine on Lake Pontchartrain. At 3 p.m. Saturday, the Mississippi Department of Marine Resources answered a distress call after a sailboat struck rocks at Bayou Caddy west of Waveland and plucked three people from the water.

After brushing Louisiana's southeastern tip, the storm is expected to move north-northwest toward the Gulf Coast at an unusually fast 23 mph. Maximum sustained winds of 90 mph were reported and the hurricane had not gained strength, as had been predicted. The National Weather Service said Nate has already broken records for its speed.The storm made landfall in Louisiana's Plaquemines Parish, located southeast of New Orleans, where devastating Hurricane Katrina also hit in 2005. Flood gates separating Plaquemines Parish and St. Bernard Parish were closed Saturday in advance of the approaching storm.

The worst conditions in New Orleans are expected through 3 a.m. and winds and surges are expected to be main threats, the National Weather Service said. As the storm shifts east toward Mississippi, the central part of the state is expected to see more heavy winds with some rain than had been originally forecast.

Louisiana Gov. John Bel Edwards said Saturday residents of the southeastern part of the state should hunker down by 3 p.m. as the fast-moving storm closes in on the state. Rainfall isn't expected to be significant, but powerful storm surges and strong winds will create life-threatening conditions, Edwards said.

States of emergency have been declared in Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and Florida as the strengthening storm heads toward the United States. Conditions are favorable for Nate to continue strengthening as it crosses the Gulf, the National Hurricane Center said. A new tropical storm warning is in effect for parts of Florida.

“We’ve had a number of threats this hurricane season, and we’ve been blessed when Harvey went left and Irma went right,” Edwards said at a news conference. “That is not what we anticipate out of Nate, so everyone should take this very seriously.”

In Mississippi, federal environmental officials released 40 million gallons of partially treated wastewater from a shuttered chemical plant in the event that Nate brings heavy rainfall to the area and causes a worse spill. The material was left over from when the Mississippi Phosphates plant in Pascagoula declared bankruptcy and closed three years ago. The site has had environmentally harmful spills in the past.

In Hurricane Irma-battered Florida, Gov. Rick Scott implored residents to heed warnings to evacuate, stick to their emergency plans and remain vigilant for updates from local officials. The hurricane is expected to bring storm surges and strong winds, but also tornadoes.

In Florida, Gov. Rick Scott said the roughly 100,000 residents in evacuation zones should heed warnings, stick to their emergency plan and stay vigilant for updates from local officials.

He said the hurricane could bring not just storm surges and strong winds to the Panhandle, but also tornadoes.

The storm's far-reaching effects are also expected to be felt in Atlanta, which is under a tropical storm watch.

The approaching storm also spurred evacuation orders in several parishes outside New Orleans' levee system and in vulnerable areas in the city.

New Orleans Mayor Mitch Landrieu told residents and weekend visitors — who swelled the population of the city of 400,000 to 440,000 — in a Saturday afternoon to move immediately to a safe place and said reports that some people in low-lying areas of the city were holding hurricane parties were troubling.

“We’re in the fight right now,” he said, adding that the storm will hit hard and fast. “The storm is on us.”

Not everyone is leaving, though, the Associated Press reported. Among them is Gabriel Black, a resident of New Orleans' Venetian Isles community, who sent his wife, a friend and three dogs to hotel, but stayed behind to help an 81-year-old neighbor who refused to leave.

"I know it sounds insane, but he has bad legs and he doesn't have anybody who can get to him," Black told AP.

Also among the storm-hardy were Nancy and Cleve Bell, who told AP their house remained dry in Hurricane Katrina's catastrophic floods, so they're staying put. They have a generator and plenty of supplies, Nancy Bell said.

President Trump on Saturday cleared the way for emergency aid for Louisiana, authorizing the Federal Emergency Management Agency and the Department of Homeland Security to coordinate all federal disaster relief efforts. The move aims to expedite aid, save lives and protect property and public safety. It specifically identifies 17 parishes, many on the coastline.

The intensity of hurricanes and their exact path to landfall are famously difficult to assess with precision but various weather models were consistent Friday in predicting that the storm would graduate to hurricane status as it hits Southeast Louisiana and then turns to the northeast. If the predictions hold true, Mississippi and Alabama are likely to be hit hardest with flooding and damaging winds. If Nate shifts just slightly to the west, though, it could cause serious problems for New Orleans and its fragile drainage system.

Assessing the intensity of Nate when it hits landfall is far more difficult than charting its path because of competing weather systems in the area, forecasters said. It could weaken to a moderate tropical storm or pass over enough warm water to hit landfall as a Category 2 or 3 hurricane.

Hurricane warnings extended from New Orleans to Lake Pontchartrain and Grand Isle eastward to the Alabama-Florida border, and flood-surge warnings stretched even farther east.

“Life-threatening storm surge flooding is likely along portions of the northern Gulf Coast, and a storm surge warning has been issued from Morgan City, Louisiana, to the Alabama/Florida border,” the National Hurricane Center said.

New Orleans Mayor Mitch Landrieu also declared a state of emergency, saying in a tweet there is “no need to panic,” but advising them to be prepared for the approaching storm. "Be ready and prepare," he tweeted. "Get a plan. Prepare to protect your personal property."

Louisiana officials ordered some people to evacuate coastal areas and barrier islands, and evacuations began at some offshore oil platforms in the Gulf, the Associated Press reported. Workers have been evacuated from 66 oil- and gas-producing platforms in the Gulf, about 9 percent of the total manned facilities. Crews have also been taken off five drilling rigs, the Interior Department said, and other rigs have been moved out of Nate's path.

About one-fifth of U.S. oil is produced in the Gulf. The platforms mostly avoided Hurricane Harvey in late August.

Nate is rapidly strengthening because the waters it's traveling over are very warm. Hurricane Harvey — the powerful storm blamed for 70 deaths, was a Category 2 early on the morning of Aug. 25, but picked up immense strength in a matter of hours and slammed into the Texas Gulf Coast as an angry Category 4 storm. There’s a key difference between the two storms, though. Nate is fast moving, whereas Harvey sat over the Coastal Bend for days, dumping more than 50 inches of rain on Houston and the surrounding areas.

“How much Nate is able to strengthen once it hits those warm waters depends a lot on how intact the center of the storm can maintain as it traverses land,” CNN meteorologist Brandon Miller said. “If it gets ragged, it will take some time to reform over the ocean, and that will mean less time to gain in intensity.

“But if it manages to stay together while over Central America, it will be able to take advantage of those warm waters and quickly strengthen, maybe even undergo ‘rapid intensification,’ ” he said.

A cold front Sunday night into Monday is expected to pull Nate across the eastern United States, and heavy rain is possible early next week from the Gulf Coast to the Mid-Atlantic.

In Louisiana, Edwards has mobilized 1,300 National Guard troops, and 15 are headed to New Orleans to monitor the city’s weakened pumping system, which helps discharge floodwaters, the Times Picayune reported. The fast-moving nature of the storm is good news for the city, where a dozen of the city’s 120 drainage pumps were out of service Thursday for repairs and maintenance, according to the records posted online by the city-owned Sewerage & Water Board.

The storm could bring two to four inches or more of rain to New Orleans, enough to cause localized flooding, the National Weather Service said.

In Alabama, the governor warned residents that Nate is not only a threat to coastal areas, where winds of 75 mph and gusts to 90 mph are expected. Wide-spread power outages could hit far inland, officials said, with 35-45 mph winds and gusts up to 60 mph predicted for the western portion of the state near the Birmingham and Gadsden region.

"Friends, we must take this threat seriously," Ivey said. "All Alabamians must make sure that they and their families are well prepared."

Nate has been pounding parts of Central America since Thursday with tremendous rainfall, causing flooding and mudslides in Costa Rica, Nicaragua and Honduras, where — in addition to the 22 fatalities — many people are missing. It will pass over or near Cozumel and Cancun on Friday night, where tropical-storm force winds and heavy rain are likely.

Lead image: Boats from communities along the outer shorelines are stacked into the Violet Canal for safe harbor in Violet, La., in preparation for Hurricane Nate, expected to make landfall on the Gulf Coast, Saturday. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert)