Hurricane Nate makes landfall, FEMA provides aid to Louisiana

Nate, which was earlier estimated to make landfall around midnight Saturday, escalated to a Category 1 hurricane late Friday night.
(Photo: NASAHurricane‏/Twitter)

HOUSTON— Hurricane Nate made a landfall near the mouth of the Mississippi River on the southeastern Louisiana coast Saturday evening, and federal emergency aid has been put in place.

The US Department of Homeland Security’s Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) announced that federal emergency aid has been made available to supplement state, tribal and local response efforts due to the emergency conditions in the area affected by Tropical Storm Nate.

US President Donald Trump on Friday signed the Emergency Declaration for Louisiana, which authorized FEMA to coordinate all disaster relief efforts alleviating the hardship and sufferings, to provide appropriate assistance for required emergency measures, and to lessen or avert the threat of the catastrophe.

Specifically, FEMA is authorized to identify, mobilize and provide equipment and resources at its discretion to alleviate the impacts of the emergency. Emergency protective measures, including direct federal assistance, will be provided at a cost of 75 percent federal funding.

Before making a landfall on the US coast, Tropical Storm Nate caused severe flooding in parts of Central America that left at least 22 people dead in Nicaragua, Costa Rica and Honduras.

Nate, which was earlier estimated to make landfall around midnight Saturday, escalated to a Category 1 hurricane late Friday night.

Officials in the US states of Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and Florida have declared a state of emergency before Nate’s landfall, ordering evacuations and issuing curfews.

Maximum flooding of 7 to 11 feet (2.1 to 3.3 meters) above ground level is expected in parts of southeast Louisiana and along the Mississippi coast, the US National Hurricane Center said.

A storm surge warning is in effect from Grand Isle, Louisiana, to the Okaloosa/Walton county line in Florida.

The highest storm surge is expected Saturday night along the Mississippi coast and southeastern Louisiana coast. The water is forecast to recede Sunday morning as the storm quickly moves inland.