Hurricane Francine rips across Louisiana with powerful winds, flooding rains leaving 400k without power

NEW ORLEANS – Hurricane Francine slammed the Louisiana coast on Wednesday with destructive 100 mph winds and a dangerous storm surge that knocked out power to hundreds of thousands of utility customers in the Southeast and dumping several inches of rain that led to a rare Flash Flood Emergency.The eye of then-Hurricane Francine moved onshore at 5 p.m. CT in Terrebonne Parish, pushing hurricane-force wind gusts into the southern region of the state near Baton Rouge.FRANCINE TRACKER: FORECAST CONE, POWER OUTAGES, WATCHES, WARNINGS AND MORENew Orleans reported wind gusts of 78 and 76 mph as Francine’s eyewall came through the Big Easy on Wednesday evening, while Dulac reported a wind gust of 97 mph and Eugene Island saw a wind gust of 105 mph.Francine has since been downgraded to a tropical storm, but the storm’s dangerous and potentially deadly effects are expected to continue well inland.WATCH: HURRICANE FRANCINE’S FURY SLAMS LOUISIANA WITH FEROCIOUS WIND, TORRENTIAL RAINPower outages continued to climb throughout the day on Wednesday and into Thursday morning, with nearly 400,000 outages being reported in Louisiana and nearly 17,000 in Mississippi, according to poweroutage.us.A Flash Flood Emergency was issued for parts of the New Orleans metro where 0.50″ of rain fell in just 9 minutes and 4.5 inches fell within three hours as rain still fell, with life-threatening flooding possible.As the water rose, calls for help began to be received from those who became trapped with no way to escape.According to information provided by Lafourche Parish Sheriff Craig Webre, more than two dozen people, including small children, needed to be rescued from the flooding.The sheriff’s office said deputies responded to a call from residents who were trapped in housing units in Thibodaux due to the rising floodwaters caused by the torrential rain.All the residents were safely evacuated from the area and most were taken to emergency shelters.Conditions created by Francine also brought the threat of tornadoes and severe thunderstorms, which were expected to last into Friday morning.Travel in the area has also been impacted after airlines canceled flights into and out of the Louis Armstrong New Orleans International Airport through Thursday morning.Some parishes issued mandatory curfews from Wednesday afternoon until sunrise on Thursday, including Cameron Parish where flooding occurred prior to landfall.Ahead of Francine’s arrival, President Joe Biden approved an emergency declaration for the Bayou State.”After declaring a state of emergency, we have now determined that this storm is of such severity that an effective response is beyond the capabilities of the state and local governments,” Louisiana Gov. Jeff Landry said. “This federal assistance is needed to save lives and property.”The NHC said Francine is expected to take a gradual turn toward the north, bringing the center of Francine across southeastern Louisiana and southwestern and central Mississippi on Thursday.The center of circulation is expected to continue well inland, but the storm’s impacts could expand outward hundreds of miles.LOUISIANA RESIDENTS SCRAMBLE FOR SUPPLIES AHEAD OF HURRICANE FRANCINEWeather alerts, such as wind advisories, Flood Watches, and other hazardous weather outlooks, have been posted as far north as southern Missouri and as far east as Tennessee as what is left of the cyclone makes its way through the South.With Francine, eight hurricanes have made landfall in Louisiana since 2000. FOX Weather Correspondent Robert Ray has covered most of those landfalls.”These people are tough as nails,” said Ray, from Houma, Louisiana on Wednesday.Francine became a hurricane on Sept. 10, marking the peak of the 2024 hurricane season when a named storm is most likely to be roaming the Atlantic Basin. As Francine heads north and eventually dissipates, the NHC is also tracking several other systems in the Atlantic.Francine was the third hurricane to make landfall in the continental U.S. during the 2024 season. Hurricane Beryl made landfall in Matagorda, Texas, on July 8 as a Category 1 cyclone. About a month later, Hurricane Debby strengthened into a Category 1 before making landfall near Steinhatchee, Florida, on August 5.