NEW ORLEANS: The U.S. Gulf Coast braced for Hurricane Nate to make landfall east of New Orleans as a Category 2 storm on Saturday evening, threatening parts of Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama with torrential rain, flooding and winds of 100 miles per hour (160 km per hour). The hurricane should make landfall as early as 8 p.m. Saturday (0100 GMT Sunday), New Orleans Mayor Mitch Landrieu said. Still a Category 1 hurricane, Nate was approaching the mouth of the Mississippi River at 4 p.m. Central time, moving north-northwest at 23 mph (37 kph), the NHC said. Comes with the territory.”That said, for some residents of New Orleans, memories of Katrina and Hurricane Betsy in 1965 were still vivid. Before heading north into the Gulf, Nate brushed Mexico’s Yucatan peninsula, home to beach resorts such as Cancun and Playa del Carmen, the NHC said.

Source: New Strait Times October 07, 2017 22:52 UTC