LAKE CHARLES, La. (Reuters) – Coastal Louisianans on Saturday surveyed the damage left by the wind and water that Hurricane Delta raked across their already storm-battered homes even as it weakened quickly after coming ashore and moved rapidly toward the northeast.
Hundreds of thousands of residents were left without power after Delta made landfall as a Category 2 hurricane with maximum sustained winds of 100 miles per hour (161 kph) on Friday near the town of Creole.
By Saturday morning, however, Delta barely ranked as tropical storm with winds down to 40 miles per hour (65 kph), although it continued bringing heavy rains to northeastern Louisiana, Arkansas and Mississippi, the National Hurricane Center (NHC) reported.
The storm brought local flooding of streets and riverbanks after closely tracking the path of destruction left by more powerful Hurricane Laura, which came ashore in late August with 150-mph (241-kph) winds.
“Though Delta may have been a ‘weaker’ storm than Laura, Delta has been more of a water event than a wind event,” Lake Charles Mayor Nic Hunter wrote on Facebook on Saturday.