Hurricane Nate: Louisiana Areas Under Life-Threatening Storm Surge Warning

NEW ORLEANS, LA — Hurricane Nate continues to swirl in the Gulf of Mexico and the Louisiana coastline — including New Orleans — is under a storm surge warning.

Saturday morning, the storm was about 250 miles south of the Mississippi River. The core of Nate is forecasted to make landfall Saturday night, the U.S. National Hurricane Center in Miami said. The Category 1 storm recently had maximum sustained winds near 85 mph with higher gusts and forecasters said it could strengthen before making landfall.

A hurricane warning is in effect from Grand Isle, Louisiana, to the Alabama-Florida border as well as for the New Orleans metro area and nearby Lake Pontchartrain. (For more information on Hurricane Nate and other New Orleans stories, subscribe to Patch to receive daily newsletters and breaking news alerts. If you have an iPhone, click here to get the free Patch iPhone app.)

The National Weather Service in New Orleans issued a storm surge warning Saturday morning for the following areas:

• Port Sulphur
• Empire
• Venice
• Slidell
• Mandeville
• Covington
• New Orleans
• Lakefront Airport
• Lake Catherine

For these areas, life-threatening storm surge possible through Sunday evening and could reach 6 to 9 feet above ground. Roofs of sturdy buildings could see "considerable" damage, mobile homes could see severe damage — or be completely destroyed — and some areas could become "uninhabitable for weeks," the agency said.

Numerous large trees could be snapped or uprooted, fences and street signs could be toppled and some roads could become blocked by large debris — especially so in urban or heavily wooded places, the agency said. Several bridges, causeways, and access routes could also become impassable and large swaths of areas could see power and communications outages.

• Larose
• Golden Meadow
• Leeville

Life-threatening storm surge possible in these areas through Sunday evening. Storm surge could reach 4 to 6 feet above ground.

• Laplace
• Reserve
• Hammond
• Pontchatoula

Life-threatening storm surge is possible in these areas through early Sunday evening. Storm Surge could reach 3 to 5 feet above ground.

Photo credit: National Hurricane Service