Francine: Six to a Cat 2 hurricane within days following damage to south Louisiana 

Lafayette, LA steered clear of Hurricane Francine on Sept. 11 last week, where to most only rainforest-showers and a few howling-winds consisted of their Wednesday. Although the city endured little to no damage, other parts of Louisiana could not say the same.

Hurricane Francine struck coastline Louisiana as a Category 2 on Wednesday, with winds up to 100 mph, flash-flooding roads and homes and leaving 450,000 Louisiana residents without electricity.

According to The New York Times, at the tip of southern Louisiana, in areas such as Houma, Thibodaux, Morgan City and Franklin, nearly 94 percent were left with power outages and some areas accumulated more than 10 inches of rain. 

Flash flood emergencies were announced Wednesday evening, where roads and homes were immersed in rainfall; local deputies in some parishes such as Lafourche Parish even initiated water rescues to bring residents affected by severe flooding to safety, based on CNN. 

In New Orleans, nurse Miles Crawford trenched through chest-high waters and rescued a driver nearly drowning in their vehicle.

Terrebonne Parish, where Category 2 Francine made landfall, as of Sat. Sept. 14–three days after impact–nearly 68 percent of residents are yet without power. Some parishes right above Terrebonne also remain with a little more than 10 percent of power outages, provided by PowerOutage.us.

A number of residents in Houma are not expected to receive full power until Monday, Sept. 16. 

Residents from affected cities in Louisiana shared their experiences with The Vermilion.

Emma Cyre, a resident of Slidell, LA, elaborated on the conditions and impact of the city.

“My experience with the hurricane was overall better than many people that I know. I am fortunate enough to have a generator preparing for power loss.”

There were no power outages and flooding in Slidell, Cyre said.

“The biggest concern was the tornado warnings throughout the night.”

Students from the University of Louisiana at Lafayette also shared some experiences. 

Sarah LeBlanc, a freshman kinesiology major, evacuated in hopes of dodging Hurricane Franicne but had an entirely different experience.

“My hometown is in Thibodaux. I evacuated there to get out of the storm from here, but it was actually worse there.”

On Thursday, LeBlanc said, “I was able to get out this morning, it wasn’t too too bad,” referring to the hurricane condition.

Unlike LeBlanc’s journey, other students who stayed in Lafayette were underwhelmed by the city’s weather on Wednesday. 

Kaitlyn Hill, a freshman studying biology, shared that she stayed home and was not impacted much by the rain. 

 The Vermilion closely followed the development of Francine at the start of last week until its landing in Louisiana on Sept. 11. Francine was not even officially Francine just a few days prior.

On Sunday, Sept. 8, news of a Potential Tropical Cyclone Six drew attention in the southwestern Gulf of Mexico, where the National Hurricane Center (NHC) began to warn of the prospects of a hurricane.

In less than 24 hours, the morning of Monday, Sept. 9., “Six” became Tropical Storm Francine furthering up the Gulf of Mexico, forecasted to target southern Texas and Louisiana coastlines. In the evening, the National Weather Service along with the NHC iterated they expect Tropical Storm Francine to become a hurricane in the coming days.

With the issuance of the forecast, southern Louisians took initiatives for safety. The University of Louisiana at Lafayette announced its closing for nearly two days and shelter-in-place for all residential students in response to the incoming storm. Some students even evacuated to other cities in the state to escape the prospective hurricane.

Louisiana State Governor, Jeff Landry, announced a state of emergency Tuesday afternoon, as Tropical Storm Francine strengthened and shifted more east. Before, Lafayette was in the direct midst of its path and fortunately escaped to the outskirts of the hurricane.

The following day, Wednesday, Sept. 11, Francine developed into a Category 1 hurricane, landing in the afternoon in the southeastern Louisiana coastlines as Category 2. 

By Thursday, Sept. 12, after impacting much of south Louisiana, Hurricane Francine weakened to a Tropical Depression on Thursday morning, in northern Mississippi and continued to move northeast as it “rains itself out.”

The rain from the cyclone imposed flooding concerns for the states Tropical Depression Francine would hit, as they would receive a few inches of rain. 

Based on CNN, affected parishes are moving back to their normal routines as roadways and debris are cleared and power is restored. 

Other tropical storms continue to form and dissipate. Recently, Tropical Storms Ileana and Gordon rose from the Pacific and Atlantic oceans, respectively. Though as of now, neither pose a hurricane threat.

Establishing an evacuation plan along with creating an emergency kit with necessities like food, water, flashlights, first-aid and more can bring more ease in times of sudden danger, as Francine imposed on much of coastal Louisiana. 

As hurricane season continues, let Louisiana residents be cautious in their preparations and support one another in times of need.