Zeta Leaves Nearly 2 Million Without Power and At Least Two Dead After Slamming Gulf Coast

Jan Wesner Childs and Ron Brackett

Published: October 29, 2020

Zeta, which came ashore Wednesday in Louisiana as strong Category 2 hurricane, weakened to a tropical storm as it roared northeast through Mississippi, Alabama and Georgia early Thursday.

The storm ripped off roofs, knocked down power lines and trees and flooded streets near New Orleans where it came ashore. Storm surge flooded communities along the northern Gulf Coast. As the hurricane moved farther inland, trees and power lines fell in Mississippi, Alabama and Georgia.

By 7 a.m. Thursday, nearly 2 million homes and business were without power across five states, according to power outage.us. Louisiana and Georgia had the most with 510,000 and 896,000 outages, respectively.

At least two people died in the storm. In Louisiana, a 55-year-old man was electrocuted by low-hanging power lines in New Orleans. In Mississippi, an Alabama man taking video of the storm in Biloxi drowned at a marina, the Sun Herald reported.

(WATCH: Jim Cantore Surprised by Waves in Parking Garage)

The storm made landfall about 4 p.m. CDT near Cocodrie in Terrebonne Parish and moved over New Orleans with howling winds and driving rain. Here's a look at some of the impacts of the storm state by state.

Louisiana

One person was taken to the hospital after a roof collapsed on a building in New Orleans, The Advocate reported. The lights went out on Bourbon Street.

Video on WDSU from Grand Isle, a barrier island in Jefferson Parish, showed large homes with their roofs torn off, a crumpled gas station canopy and downed utility poles and wires.

"We're really getting beat. We're looking at wind over 100 (mph) for sure," Grand Isle Mayor David Camardelle said in an interview with WDSU as Zeta's eyewall moved over the island.

The Jefferson Parish government posted a image on Twitter showing three breaches in Grand Isle's levee, known as the "burrito levee" because it's a large roll of plastic filled with sand. The levee was severely damaged by Cristobal at the beginning of the hurricane season and work continued through the summer to shore it up.

The Jefferson Parish government posted an image on Twitter showing three breaches in Grand Isle's levee, known as the "burrito levee."

In St. Bernard Parish, the Chalmette Ferry broke free from its mooring and was lodged under a dock at Chalmette Refining, WDSU reported.

"Zeta gave us a good punch," Parish President Guy McInnis told the station. "We were experiencing 120 mph gusts in the lower end of the parish and 90 to 105 in the upper end of the parish."

“We have multiple reports of people in distress with their roofs being blown off,” McInnis said. “We’re going to get out there as soon as we can.”

Terrebonne Parish officials said they had received several reports of downed power lines and utility poles.

"Please stay home and off roadways and highways until first responders can assess road conditions," the parish emergency management office said in a Facebook post.

The Lafourche Parish Sheriff's Office, just to the east of where Zeta came ashore, said similar reports were coming in there. Public Information Officer Brennan Matherne shared video from the sheriff that showed a large boat washed on to a highway.

Four or five buildings collapsed in the southern part of the parish, Lafourche Parish President Archie Chaisson told WDSU. He said a wind gust to 136 mph was recorded by an anemometer on a boat in the parish.

A video from Plaquemines Parish showed debris from a destroyed mobile home blowing across a road. The Sheriff's Office said it had received numerous reports of down trees, power lines and utility poles throughout the parish.

Video from the Lafourche Parish Sheriff's office showed wind and heavy rainfall.

Schools were closed in New Orleans Wednesday and will remain shuttered on Thursday. Several other parishes also closed schools, as did districts in Mississippi and Alabama. In some cases, learning shifted to virtual models put in place as part of the response to the coronavirus pandemic.

Communities far inland were also bracing for the impacts of Zeta. More than two dozen school districts in Georgia canceled in-person and/or online classes for Thursday, including several around metro Atlanta, WSB-TV reported. The storm was expected to move through into early Thursday morning.

Mississippi

In Pass Christian, U.S. Highway 90, which crosses Bay St. Louis, was beginning to take on water, according Harrison County Emergency Management director Rupert Lacy.

Cars in a parking garage at a casino in Biloxi, Mississippi, floated like toys in the surge. The Weather Channel meteorologist Jim Cantore said the storm surge was likely 8 feet in Biloxi. He said it was 8.2 feet in Bay St. Louis.

Multiple semitractor-trailers were knocked over on Interstate 10 near Bay St. Louis, according to stormchaser Aaron Jayjack.

The National Weather Service reported trees down on houses in Forrest County and Lamar County.

Alabama

The storm surge was causing flooding in Mobile, Alabama, late Wednesday night.

Trees fell on a house and cars on Dauphin Island about 9:15 p.m., according to the National Weather Service. Rushing water closed the Dauphin Island Causeway. Mobile Fire Rescue conducted a water rescue on the causeway at the Dog River Bridge.

Georgia

Atlanta was under a tropical storm warning for the second time ever. Its first warning was in 2017 when Hurricane Irma roared into Florida as a deadly Category 4 storm.

And Zeta delivered. The storm downed trees and power lines across northern Georgia. By 7 a.m. Thursday, 896,000 homes and businesses were without power.

Several school districts either moved classes fully online or canceled classes all together Thursday.

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.