Hurricane Delta: More Than 330,000 Without Power; Coastal Areas Flooded as Storm Makes Landfall

Jan Wesner Childs

Published: October 9, 2020

Hundreds of thousands of people are without power after Hurricane Delta made landfall in Southwest Louisiana Friday night, knocking down trees and power lines and covering coastal areas with water.

Video posted to social media showed downed utility poles and power lines in Lake Charles.

More than 330,000 homes and businesses were without power in Louisiana, and another 66,000 outages were being reported in Texas as of about 7:30 p.m. CDT, according to poweroutage.us.

Earlier, wind and water were whipping near the Capital One tower in downtown Lake Charles, which became an enduring image of Hurricane Laura when that storm blew out several windows on the 22-story tower about six weeks ago. Boards covered those windows ahead of Delta.

The storm made landfall in Creole, Louisiana, just 14 miles east of where Hurricane Laura came ashore in Cameron six weeks ago.

Officials advised residents to stay indoors and hunker down until further notice.

"The only advice I can give is just stay in your homes, don’t get out on the roads, even after the storm," Danny Semmes, police chief in Jennings, Louisiana, just to the east of Lake Charles told The Weather Channel.

(MORE: Latest Forecast for Hurricane Laura)

Earlier, motorists became stranded in high water and there were reports of flooded homes in Baton Rouge.

There were about two dozen road closures due to high water Friday morning in Baton Rouge, according to emergency management. The city's airport reported 8 inches of rain overnight and a flash flood warning was issued by the National Weather Service.

Curt Monte, public information officer for the Baton Rouge Fire Department, told weather.com that crews responded to about 25 calls for assistance from motorists who were stuck in flood waters.

"I can tell you it was mostly flooded out, stalled vehicles, people not obeying the 'turn around and don’t drown' message,” Monte said.

WBRZ-TV reported that a dozen homes were flooded.

Just outside of Lake Charles, patients were evacuated from the West Calcasieu Cameron Hospital in Sulphur ahead of the storm. Patients were either being discharged or moved to other medical facilities in Baton Rouge and New Orleans, according to a news release.

At least five parishes had issued mandatory evacuation orders, including Calcasieu Parish, where Lake Charles is located, and Cameron Parish, where some areas are still under evacuation orders from Hurricane Laura. Traffic was backed up for miles on Interstate 10.

Residents in Lake Charles who did not have anywhere else to go or transportation to get there were being bused to shelters outside the city. Officials said evacuees would not receive hotel vouchers, which were given out for the Hurricane Laura evacuation in August.

Hurricane warnings have been issued for much of southwestern Louisiana, where just weeks ago Hurricane Laura destroyed 10,000 homes and left 35,000 others with major damage, according to Gov. John Bel Edwards.

"Those structures have not yet been repaired. The electrical infrastructure there is in the process of being repaired. And we’ve got people who are very tired. We’re still sheltering over 6,000 people from southwest Louisiana in 12 hotels, primarily in New Orleans," Edwards said in a radio interview Thursday. "It’s going to be a very challenging situation."

More than 1,000 National Guardsmen, 7,500 utility workers and dozens of high water rescue vehicles, boats and aircraft are standing by if needed, Edwards said in an earlier news conference. He said another 8,000 utility workers are waiting outside the state.

Officials were reminding people to be cautious when using generators during power outages after the storm. Precautions include never running a generator inside or adjacent to a home or building. At least nine people in Louisiana died of carbon monoxide poisoning caused by improper use of generators after Hurricane Laura.

The Weather Company’s primary journalistic mission is to report on breaking weather news, the environment and the importance of science to our lives. This story does not necessarily represent the position of our parent company, IBM.

The Weather Company’s primary journalistic mission is to report on breaking weather news, the environment and the importance of science to our lives. This story does not necessarily represent the position of our parent company, IBM.