Hurricane Delta came ashore in western Louisiana on Friday night. Nearly 750,000 homes and businesses were left without power in three states: Louisiana, Texas and Mississippi — with 546,000 in Louisiana alone. Western Louisiana was hit earlier this year by Hurricanes Laura and Beta.
Delta hit the U.S. Gulf Coast near Creole, Louisiana, as a category two hurricane and proceeded in a northeasterly direction through Mississippi. The storm brought high levels of rainfall across Alabama over the weekend and some localized flooding. Three to six inches of rain were common across Alabama over the weekend.
According to the data aggregator PowerOutage.us, at least 583,190 utility customers were without power across the three states as of Saturday afternoon.
The storm moved directly over Lake Charles, a waterfront city about 30 miles inland, which already suffered heavy damage from Hurricane Laura six weeks earlier.
Lake Charles Mayor Nic Hunter told reporters that tarps on roofs due to Laura and Beta were flying off homes across the city and that piles of wreckage were being blown around, some of it floating in the surge of ocean water.
Alabama has already been battered by Hurricane Sally, which came ashore on Sept. 15 near Gulf Shores. Many home and business owners in Baldwin, Mobile, and Escambia counties are still waiting for insurance money in order to begin making repairs. Now repair crews and adjusters are going to Louisiana and Mississippi to assist with dealing with the impact of Hurricane Delta.
Materials, particularly wood, becomes harder to get and thus more expensive in the aftermath of major hurricanes.
2020 has been the most active year for tropical storms and hurricanes on record.
