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Zeta Slams New Orleans as Cat 2, Nearly 2M Lose Power; Now It's Racing Northeast

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Fast-moving Hurricane Zeta slammed the storm-weary Louisiana-Mississippi coasts hard Wednesday, coming ashore as a Category 2 hurricane.

Authorities blame it for at least one death, nearly 2 million people without power, and widespread damage across the region.
 
Zeta is now downgraded to a tropical storm and racing northeast across the southern United States before it's expected to move out to sea off the mid-Atlantic coast by this evening. Authorities are warning of strong wind gusts, downed trees and power lines, leading to more power outages.

The website PowerOutage.us shows 1.8 million already without power in Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, and Georgia--areas that already suffered power outages several times this hurricane season.

Officials say a 55-year-old Louisiana coroner lost his life after being electrocuted by a downed power line.

Louisiana Gov. John Bel Edwards will tour the hardest-hit coastal regions on Thursday. He's urging people to help their neighbors while keeping mindful of the pandemic.

"Offer the help but do it with a mask on," he said.

Zeta is the 27th named storm of a record-making Atlantic hurricane season. It's the 11th named storm to make landfall in the US in a single season, topping the previous record of nine storms that hit in 1916. 

An average season usually sees 12 named storms.

Operating Blessing is serving in Louisiana this week, where it's been on the ground since Hurricane Laura struck in August.

 


 

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About The Author

Heather
Sells

Heather Sells covers wide-ranging stories for CBN News that include religious liberty, ministry trends, immigration, and education. She’s known for telling personal stories that capture the issues of the day, from the border sheriff who rescues migrants in the desert to the parents struggling with a child that identifies as transgender. In the last year, she has reported on immigration at the Texas border, from Washington, D.C., in advance of the Dobbs abortion case, at crisis pregnancy centers in Massachusetts, and on sexual abuse reform at the annual Southern Baptist meeting in Anaheim