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Hurricane Frances made landfall in southern Louisiana, battering New Orleans with heavy rains and gale-force winds as the wider Gulf Coast threatened a potentially devastating storm surge that prompted authorities to issue evacuation orders for thousands of people.
The National Hurricane Center in the United States said that Francine was accompanied by maximum winds of 120 kilometers per hour.
The Hurricane Center briefly upgraded Francis to a Category 2 storm on the five-step Saffir-Simpson scale before it made landfall.
Even a Category 1 hurricane can cause damage, and a warning has been issued for the entire Gulf Coast of Louisiana and Mississippi due to high waves that the hurricane center described as life-threatening.
PowerOutage.us reported that more than 200,000 homes and businesses across Louisiana were without power.
Louisiana Governor Jeff Landry and U.S. President Joe Biden have declared a state of emergency in anticipation of the hurricane, making available emergency management resources and potential financial assistance in the event of severe damage.
Any major hurricane near Louisiana evokes memories of Hurricane Katrina, which hit New Orleans and surrounding areas in 2005, killing about 1,400 people and causing $125 billion in damage.
Nearly 39 percent of oil production and half of natural gas production in the U.S. Gulf of Mexico were shut down on Wednesday.
