At 7 p.m. Eastern time, Hurricane Delta made its landfall in Creole, Louisiana. The hurricane made its way through southwestern Louisiana as a Category 2 Friday evening. This storm is the newest addition to the volley of hurricanes to strike the northern Gulf.
It is a Category 1 hurricane, where its maximum speed is between 74 to 95 mph. Nonetheless, it is still dangerous and can produce some damage. Well-constructed frame homes can have damaged roofs, vinyl siding, and gutters.
Hurricane Delta is the most powerful storm to be named after a letter of the Greek alphabet. Thus, making this season the second time the Greek alphabet was used as names on the standard list ran out.
Initially, it was classified as Category 4 last Wednesday when it hit Mexico’s Yucatán Peninsula and Cancun. Afterward, it was dialed down to Category 1 as it made its way out of the said areas. However, it regained its strength over the Gulf of Mexico last Thursday, and it was upgraded to Category 3.
It sustained the Category 3 classification but downgraded to Category 2 when it hit Creole, Louisiana. It was downgraded to a Category 1 after an hour of its landfall. Although it has weakened, it still did significant damages when it was a Category 2. The hurricane’s destructive powers were prominent in the same area where Hurricane Laura landed six weeks ago.
Its eyewall, where the most intense winds are located, let loose winds up to 96 mph in Lake Charles. At the same time, it unleashed up to 100 mph throughout the border of Texas and Louisiana. It also created a storm surge with a height of 9 feet hitting the coastal area near Lafayette, Louisiana.
Hurricane Delta is the tenth storm to landfall in the U.S. and caused minimal to devastating damage. The first one was the short-lived Tropical Storm Bertha that hit South Carolina last May.
Hurricanes Isaías, Hanna, Sally, and Laura, and Tropical Storms Beta, Marco, Fay, and Cristobal are the other eight storms. The ten rainstorms surpassed the 1916 record of nine for a single season.
Storms are still expected to show up in the last three months of 2020, but not all will landfall. September is the month for hurricanes and typhoons, thus naming the month as hurricane season.
However, September 2020 was no ordinary peak month. Typically, the U.S. only has 9 to 12 named storms for its hurricane season, but only five to seven reach hurricane strength. As for September, there were ten storms.
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