Hurricane Zeta Will Strike Gulf Coast With Damaging Winds, Storm Surge

Hurricane Zeta was poised to crash into Louisiana on Wednesday with a “life-threatening storm surge” and winds that will reach far inland, the state’s sixth lashing this year from a Gulf Coast storm.

Zeta was about 220 miles (355 km) from the mouth of the Mississippi River on Wednesday morning, heading north at 18 mph with an expected afternoon landfall.

Its winds slipped to 90 mph (150 kph) but could restrengthen ahead of landfall, the U.S. National Hurricane Center said.

Zeta will hit the Louisiana coast as a “significant hurricane,” said NHC forecaster Daniel Brown. “Strong winds are likely to spread well inland along the northern Gulf coast this evening and tonight.”

It will bring a storm surge of up to 8 feet (2.4 meters) from Port Fourchon, Louisiana, to the mouth of the Pearl River, in Mississippi, the NHC said.