Strong Hurricane Nate slams Southern U.S.
Hurricane Nate has made a second landfall along the US Gulf Coast early on Sunday, with maximum sustained winds of 85mph (137km/h), torrential rain and a threat of storm.
US President Donald Trump said federal officials were ready for the fast-moving storm, urging residents of the states of Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and Florida on Twitter to “listen to your local authorities & be safe!”
The hurricane is expected to weaken significantly as it rages over land and is likely to become a tropical storm on Sunday morning, the centre said, adding that it will turn towards the north-northwest and then northeast with an increase in forward speed during the next couple of days.
“The only thing you can do is prepare,” said Gulfport, Mississippi, resident Emmett Bryant. “Here there’s nothing really you can do when the storm comes unless you’re going to leave. And I don’t plan on leaving.”
The fourth major storm to strike the United States in less than two months, Nate killed at least 30 people in Central America before entering the warm waters of the Gulf of Mexico and bearing down on the U.S. South. It has also shut down most oil and gas production in the Gulf.
Damage caused by the storm prompted Costa Rican officials to postpone a World Cup qualifying football match between that country and Honduras.
