Tropical Storm Francine was strengthening and swirling in the Gulf of Mexico and was expected to reach hurricane strength before making landfall in Louisiana on Tuesday.
Storm surge warnings were issued for areas from east of Houston to the mouth of the Mississippi River south of New Orleans, according to the National Hurricane Center.
Such a warning means there is a possibility of life-threatening flooding.
Louisiana Governor Jeff Landry urged residents to “don't panic, be prepared” and follow evacuation warnings.
Forecasters said Francine is expected to make landfall in south Louisiana on Wednesday afternoon as a Category 2 hurricane with sustained winds of 96 to 110 mph.
“We don't want a situation where people wait until the last minute to leave and then run out of fuel,” Landry said.
“We provide a lot of information throughout the summer and hurricane season to help people be prepared. The more prepared they are, the easier it is for us.”
Francine is targeting a Louisiana coastline that has yet to fully recover from Hurricane Laura and Hurricane Delta, which devastated Lake Charles in 2020, followed by Hurricane Ida a year later.
Over the weekend, a 22-story building in Lake Charles that had become a symbol of the storm's destruction was blown up after standing vacant for nearly four years, its windows shattered and covered in ripped tarps.
Forecasters said Francine could bring a storm surge of up to 10 feet (3 meters) along the Louisiana coast from Cameron to Port Fourchon and Vermilion Bay.
“Very dangerous and life-threatening flooding is possible,” Hurricane Center director Michael Brennan said, adding that “dangerous and destructive winds are possible far inland.”
He said the likely landfall would be somewhere between Sabine Pass on the Texas-Louisiana border and Morgan City, Louisiana, about 220 miles to the east.
Louisiana officials urged residents to prepare immediately “as conditions permit,” said Mike Steele, spokesman for the Governor's Office of Homeland Security and Emergency Preparedness.
“We always talk about when something gets into the Gulf of Mexico, things can change quickly, and this is a perfect example of that,” Steele said.
Residents of Louisiana's capital city of Baton Rouge began lining up for gas and groceries, while others piled sandbags at city-run sites to protect their homes from flooding.
“It is critical that we all take this storm very seriously and begin preparing immediately,” Baton Rouge Mayor Sharon Weston Bloom said, urging residents to stock up on a three-day supply of food, water and essentials.
The Cameron Parish Office of Homeland Security and Emergency Preparedness ordered mandatory evacuations for seven remote coastal communities.
Among them is laid-back Holly Beach, Louisiana's “Cajun Riviera,” where many of the homes are built on stilts. The storm-ravaged town is a low-cost haven for oil workers, their families and retirees, and has been rebuilt several times after past hurricanes.
In Grand Isle, Louisiana's last inhabited barrier island, Mayor David Camardell advised residents to evacuate and ordered mandatory evacuations for people in recreational vehicles.
Hurricane Ida devastated the city three years ago, destroying 700 homes.
Officials are warning of possible flooding, strong winds and power outages in the area from Tuesday afternoon into Thursday.
In New Orleans, Mayor LaToya Cantrell urged residents to prepare to evacuate. “Now is the time to finalize your storm plans and prepare while looking out for not only your family but your neighbors,” she said.
City officials are expecting up to 6 inches of rain, wind gusts and “isolated tornadic activity,” and said the most severe weather was likely to reach New Orleans on Wednesday and Thursday.
According to the National Hurricane Center, Francine is located about 125 miles south-southeast of the mouth of the Rio Grande and 425 miles south-southwest of Cameron, with maximum sustained winds of about 65 mph and moving north-northwest at 5 mph.
Rains fell in northern Mexico on Monday, flooding more than a dozen neighborhoods in Matamoros, Texas, just across the border from Brownsville, and schools were closed Monday and Tuesday.
Marco Antonio Hernandez Acosta, director of the Matamoros Water and Sewerage Board, said they were waiting for Mexico's federal government to provide pumps to drain the affected areas.
The storm is expected to move north-northeastward through Monday evening, then accelerate northeastward starting Tuesday, approaching the coastlines of North Texas and Louisiana on Wednesday.
