Hurricane Delta: Louisiana braces for disaster for sixth time this year

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2020/oct/08/hurricane-delta-louisiana-winds-flooding

Oliver Milman in New York
Thu 8 Oct 2020 19.01 EDT 

People in Louisiana are bracing themselves for flooding and dangerously high winds for the sixth time this year, as 2020’s extraordinary hurricane season sent yet another major storm in the state’s direction, amid Earth’s accelerating climate crisis.
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Hurricane Delta strengthened rapidly to a category 4 event on Tuesday before easing back to a category 2 then restrengthening to a category 3, with sustained winds of up to 100mph. The hurricane, churning in the Gulf of Mexico, is expected to hit the US Gulf coast on Friday and potentially cause flooding in Texas and Louisiana.

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Delta is expected to hit areas around the city of Lake Charles that were devastated when Hurricane Laura tore through the region in August, killing at least 28 people. Thousands of residents remain displaced from their homes due to the previous storm. “This season has been relentless,” Edwards said. “Prepare for the worst. Pray for the best.”

While Louisiana is expected to take the brunt of of the storm, Mississippi was also bracing for a worst-case scenario, Governor Tate Reeves said on Thursday.

The storm is expected to enter Mississippi in the late morning on Saturday, bringing heavy wind, a few feet of storm surge, moderate rainfall and possibly tornadoes. Reeves signed a state of emergency declaration on Wednesday, prompting the Mississippi emergency management agency to prepare 11 shelters to be open on standby.

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Scientists say that climate change is making storms more powerful by adding heat to the ocean and more moisture to the atmosphere. The rapid intensification of Delta, like other recent storms, is also a phenomenon that scientists say is becoming more common as the planet heats up.

“Rapid intensification is just one clear sign of how climate change is making hurricane impacts worse for those in the path of storms like Delta,” said Jonathan Overpeck, a climate scientist at the University of Michigan. “More rain, more intense rain, more storm surge, more flooding, higher probability of major storms. Bad, getting worse.”

tags: extreme weather, severe weather