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Zeta leaves Louisiana with high water, wind damage, and over 400,000 outages

3 years 11 months 6 days ago Thursday, October 29 2020 Oct 29, 2020 October 29, 2020 5:21 AM October 29, 2020 in News
Source: WBRZ

BATON ROUGE - After making landfall in Terrebonne Parish's village of Cocodrie on Wednesday evening, Hurricane Zeta, a Category 2 storm with winds of 110 mph, lashed the area with brutal rains and winds that downed power lines and trees.

Swiftly moving along, by Thursday morning Zeta made its way out of the state and headed for northeast Alabama, northern Georgia, the Carolinas, and Southeastern Virginia.

But as these areas brace for Zeta's impact, Louisiana residents are assessing the storm's damage and preparing to engage in post-hurricane relief efforts.

The storm reportedly resulted in two deaths. New Orleans EMS reported Wednesday that one person tragically lost their life during an electrocution incident.

The second death was reported Thursday morning, in Biloxi, Mississippi where the Harrison County Coroner's office says a 58-year-old man named Leslie Richardson drowned after getting trapped in rising ocean water pushed ashore by Zeta. 

As of 11:45 a.m., Thursday, at least 402,033 are without power, with the majority of outages in Jefferson Parish where over 177,000 are in the dark. 

According to Entergy New Orleans CEO David Ellis, power should be restored to most in Orleans Parish by the end of the weekend. That said, it could take up to 7 days for power to be fully restored

While East Baton Rouge Parish was spared the worst of the storm in regards to outages and flooding, major highways and roads in surrounding parishes are closed.

On Thursday morning, Highway 51, which runs parallel to Highway 55, remains closed due to flooding. The Causeway Bridge is also closed, as are Williams Boulevard and several other major roads in the Kenner and Metairie areas. 

Governor John Bel Edwards will address the public twice on Thursday, once at 10 a.m. (which is available to view in the Facebook video below) and then again at 2 p.m. after he joins his cabinet members in a tour of Zeta-impacted areas to survey the damage.

WBRZ will air his afternoon update live on WBRZ Plus at 2 p.m.

Click here to watch it, live, online at that time. 

Zeta is the 27th storm of the Atlantic hurricane season. The only other time this many storms occurred in one season was back in 2005, when there were a total of 28 storms, including 15 hurricanes.

 

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