Pike and Walthall counties are under a storm warning as Tropical Storm Zeta was expected to strengthen back into a hurricane as it crosses the Gulf of Mexico en route to landfall in southeastern Louis-iana this evening.
“Now is the time to prepare. Make sure you are tying down any patio furniture or anything outside that would be moving around. ... We are going to see some wind,” Mississippi Emergency Management Agency Director Greg Michel said Wednesday. “Bottom line, over the next 24 hours, you need to pay attention to the weather.
“We will start seeing some the conditions of this storm sometime early Wednesday afternoon, around 1 or 2:00 and then those conditions will gradually increase as it makes landfall somewhere around 7 or 8 p.m.”
Zeta deteriorated into a tropical storm after hitting the Yucatan Peninsula in Mexico on Monday night. It was about 450 miles south of New Orleans with 65 mph winds, moving northwest at 14 mph on Tuesday afternoon. The National Hurricane Center expected the storm to be at or near hurricane strength when it reaches the Gulf Coast.
“Once it makes landfall it will move rather quickly on a general northeastly turn across the southeastern portion of Mississippi,” Michel said. “It is moving very quickly, which is a good thing.
“The forward speed of this storm would indicate it won’t have time to gain a lot of strength,” Michel added.
Forecast models have Southwest Mississippi clear of the direct path of the storm, although the area is expected to see wind and rain from its outer bands.
The peak wind forecast for the area includes 10-15 mph with gusts of 20 mph and potentially as high as 39 to 57 mph, the National Weather Service reported.
Potential local impacts from Zeta include damage to porches, awnings, carports, sheds, and unanchored mobile homes. Unsecured lightweight objects could be blown about. Large tree limbs may get broken off, and some trees could get uprooted.
Scattered outages were likely, but a bit of good news is that the storm has unfavorable conditions for tornadoes.
Michel noted that around 100,000 Mississippians went without power after Hurricane Delta, which was more powerful than what Zeta is expected to be, and some did not electricity until seven to 10 days later.
“You need to anticpate that depending on where you are located,” he said of outages.
Michel said the storm should be out of the state and into Alabama by the end of the day Thursday.
National Hurricane Center forecasters project that Zeta will turn north tonight and start on a faster track before making landfall and crossing over the Southeastern U.S. early Thursday.
Hurricane warnings are in effect for Morgan City, La., to the Mississippi-Alabama line, Lake Pontchartrain, Lake Maurepas and metropolitan New Orleans.
A storm surge warning is in effect from the mouth of the Atchafalaya River to Navarre, Fla., Lake Borgne, Lake Pontchartrain, Pensacola Bay and Mobile Bay.
Tropical storm warnings are in effect from the Mississippi-Alabama border to Okaloosa-Walton County line in Florida. A tropical storm watch is in effect from west of Morgan City to Intracoastal City, La.
The storm surge warning from Intracoastal City, La, to the mouth of the Atchafalaya River has been discontinued.
