Hurricane Grace hits Mexico's Gulf coast, dissipates; 8 dead
Source: AP
By FÉLIX MÁRQUEZ and FABIOLA SÁNCHEZ
VERACRUZ, Mexico (AP) — Hurricane Grace swept onto Mexico’s Gulf coast as a major Category 3 storm and moved inland Saturday, drenching coastal and inland areas in its second landfall in the country in two days. At least eight people died, authorities said.
The storm had lost power while crossing over the Yucatan Peninsula on Thursday, swirling through Mexico’s main tourist strip, but it rapidly drew strength from the relatively warm Gulf of Mexico before reaching the Mexican coast again late Friday.
At least eight people, including children, died and three were missing after mudslides and flooding, said Cuitláhuac García, governor of Mexico’s Veracruz state. García said 330,000 people lost power in the storm but it was gradually being restored.
The U.S. National Hurricane Center said Grace quickly weakened to a tropical storm as it churned over mountainous areas in central Mexico east of Mexico City and then dissipated at midafternoon.
Moving inland, Tropical Storm Henri drenches Northeast
Source: AP
By DAVID KLEPPER, MICHAEL KUNZELMAN and DAVID PORTER
WESTERLY, R.I. (AP) — Tropical Storm Henri socked the Northeast with heavy wind and rain as it made landfall Sunday on the coast of Rhode Island, knocking out power to over 100,000 homes and causing deluges that closed bridges, swamped roads and left many people stranded in their vehicles.
The storm was downgraded from a hurricane before reaching New England, leaving many to breathe a sigh of relief in a region that has not taken a direct hit from a hurricane in decades. There were few early reports of major damage due to wind or surf.
But the storm’s heavy, sustained rains raised concerns about flooding from the storm that threatened to stall over the region before pivoting to the East and moving out to the Atlantic Ocean on Monday night. Some of the highest rain totals were expected inland.
By Sunday afternoon, Henri had sustained winds of about 50 mph as it moved inland across Connecticut, according to the National Hurricane Center. When it made landfall near Westerly, R.I., it had sustained winds of about 60 mph and gusts of up to 70 mph.
Tropical Storm Ida formed on Thursday afternoon, and AccuWeather forecasters said it was becoming much more likely that parts of the central Gulf Coast would need to prepare for a strike from a major hurricane late Sunday or early Monday.
Ida, the ninth-named storm of the 2021 Atlantic season, which meteorologists have been monitoring since early this week when it was a disorganized cluster of showers and thunderstorms, strengthened quickly on Thursday after it was designated Tropical Depression Nine by the National Hurricane Center (NHC) just before noon.
As the depression was gathering strength over the Caribbean Sea south of Jamaica on Thursday, hurricane hunters from the U.S. Air Force were sent to investigate the growing storm, though poor weather briefly caused the mission to be delayed. Tropical storm warnings were issued for the Cayman Islands as well as parts of Cuba.
On Thursday afternoon, the tropical storm was moving to the northwest at a speed of 14 mph and had maximum sustained winds of 40 mph. It was 100 miles west-southwest of Negril, Jamaica, and 130 miles southeast of Grand Cayman Island.
And remember my friend, future events such as these will affect you in the future
Due to short notice New Orleans is not ordering a full evacuation of the city as there isn't time and is asking residents to prepare to shelter. Depending on track this could be worse than Katrina, hopefully edges west as if edges East it could flood the city. On top of this the pandemic is intensifying in the area ahead of this storm and this could intensify the Delta pandemic in the Southern United States. This is going to be a massive disaster anyways, but a direct hit on New Orleans in this scenario could be worse than Katrina if the levees fail.
Louisiana braces for 'life-altering' Hurricane Ida
Source: AP
By REBECCA SANTANA and KEVIN McGILL
NEW ORLEANS (AP) — Residents across Louisiana’s coast Saturday were taking one last day to prepare for what is being described as a “life-altering” Hurricane Ida which is expected to bring winds as high as 140 mph (225 kph) when it slams ashore.
A combination of voluntary and mandatory evacuations have been called for cities and communities across the region including New Orleans, where the mayor ordered a mandatory evacuation for areas outside the city’s levee system and a voluntary evacuation for residents inside the levee system. But since the storm quickly escalated in intensity, Mayor LaToya Cantrell said it wasn’t possible to order a mandatory evacuation for the entire city, which would require using all lanes of some highways to leave the city.
The storm is expected to make landfall on the exact date Hurricane Katrina devastated a large swath of the Gulf Coast 16 years earlier. But whereas Katrina was a Category 3 when it made landfall southwest of New Orleans, Ida is expected to reach an extremely dangerous Category 4 hurricane, with top winds of 140 mph (225 kph) before making landfall likely west of New Orleans late Sunday.
“This will be a life-altering storm for those who aren’t prepared,” National Weather Service meteorologist Benjamin Schott said during a Friday news conference with Louisiana Gov. John Bel Edwards.
Ray Guenther, 55, bottom right, helps his brother, John, 56, unload about 400 crab traps that he had to pull out of the water and move via flatbed trailer to dry land near his home in eastern St. Bernard Parish as the Louisiana coast prepares for the arrival of Hurricane Ida on Friday, Aug. 27, 2021 in New Orleans. Hurricane Ida struck Cuba on Friday and threatened to slam into Louisiana with devastating force over the weekend, prompting New Orleans’ mayor to order everyone outside the protection of the city’s levees to evacuate.(Chris Granger/The Times-Picayune/The New Orleans Advocate via AP)
