Francine weakens and moves inland after lashing Louisiana
MORGAN CITY, La. — Francine weakened Thursday after striking Louisiana as a Category 2 hurricane that knocked out power to hundreds of thousands of utility customers, sent storm surge rushing into coastal communities and raised flooding fears in New Orleans and beyond.
As the system moved inland, crews began clearing roads and restoring electricity while neighborhoods and businesses started cleaning up the mess. There were no reports of deaths or injuries, Gov. Jeff Landry said.
"The human spirit is defined by its resiliency, and resiliency is what defines Louisiana," Landry told a news conference. "Certainly there are times and situations that try us, but it is also when we in this state are at our very best."
At the peak of the storm, 450,000 people in Louisiana were without power, based on numbers reported by the Public Service Commission. Many of the outages were linked to falling debris, not structural damage. At one point, around 500 people were in emergency shelters, state officials said.
"The amount of money invested in resilience has really made a difference, from the power outages to the number of homes saved," said Deanne Criswell, the administrator of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, who attended the governor's news conference.
The storm drenched the northern Gulf Coast. Up to 6 inches of rain was possible in parts of Mississippi, Arkansas, Tennessee and Georgia, with up to 10 inches possible in parts of Alabama and Florida. Flash flooding threatened cities as far away as Jackson, Miss.; Birmingham, Ala.; Memphis, Tenn.; and Atlanta.
In addition to torrential rains, there was a lingering threat of spinoff tornadoes in Florida and Alabama.
Far from the Gulf, a Memphis, Tenn., jury was sent home early in the trial of three former police officers charged with civil rights violations in the beating death of Tyre Nichols. U.S. District Judge Mark Norris blamed the remnants of Francine, saying he wanted to spare jurors from worrying about the weather and getting distracted.
By late Thursday afternoon, the National Weather Service declared Francine a remnant low-pressure system, which forecasters call a "post-tropical cyclone." The center of the system was about 90 miles south of Memphis.
Meanwhile, Tropical Storm Ileana formed Thursday in the eastern Pacific Ocean, prompting officials in Mexico to post a tropical storm warning for the Baja California peninsula, according to the National Hurricane Center. The storm was about 240 miles southeast of Cabo San Lucas, Mexico, with maximum winds of 40 mph and moving northwest at 9 mph.
Francine slammed the Louisiana coast Wednesday evening with 100 mph winds in coastal Terrebonne Parish, battering a fragile coastal region that has not fully recovered from a series of devastating hurricanes in 2020 and 2021. The system then moved at a fast clip toward New Orleans, lashing the city with torrential rain. The city awoke to widespread power outages and debris-covered streets. Home generators roared outside some houses.
Rushing water nearly enveloped a pickup truck in a New Orleans underpass, trapping the driver inside. A 39-year-old emergency room nurse who lived nearby grabbed a hammer, waded into the waist-high water, smashed the window and pulled the driver out. It was all captured on live television by a WDSU news crew.
"It's just second nature I guess, being a nurse, you just go in and get it done, right?" Miles Crawford told The Associated Press in a telephone interview Thursday. "I just had to get to get him out of there."
He said the water was up to the driver's head and rising. Crawford told the man to move to the back of the truck's cab, which gave him more room, and since the front end of the pickup was angled down, into deeper water.
"I wasn’t really questioning whether I should do it — it was just who is going to get it done," he recalled, adding that he never caught the man's name.
News footage from coastal communities showed waves from lakes, rivers and Gulf waters thrashing seawalls. Water poured into city streets in blinding downpours. Oak and cypress trees leaned in the high winds, and some utility poles swayed.
As the sun rose in Morgan City, about 30 miles from where Francine made landfall, residents gathered tree branches that were strewn across their yards, where water rose almost to their doors. Pamela Miller, 54, stepped outside to survey the damage after a large tree fell on the roof of her home.
"It was a really loud noise, a jolt," she said. "Luckily it did not go through the roof."
Jeffrey Beadle, 67, left his home in low-lying Bayou Louis, about 10 miles outside town, on Wednesday as the rain picked up. He lived there for 30 years without any major damage, but he worried this time would be different because his home was right in the hurricane's path.
After staying in a hotel for the night, he loaded his car in preparation to check on his home.
"There's nobody over on that end I can call," he said, explaining that he did not know what he would find. "Hope everything's good."
Sheriff's deputies helped evacuate dozens of people, including many small children, who were trapped by rising water Wednesday evening in Thibodaux. Lafourche Parish Sheriff Craig Webre said deputies also rescued residents in the Kraemer community.
The sixth named storm of the Atlantic hurricane season, Francine drew fuel from exceedingly warm Gulf of Mexico waters.
In the Louisiana town of Ashland, 73-year-old Wilson Garner stood on the steps of a FEMA trailer he has lived in since his previous home was destroyed by Hurricane Ida in 2021. He has been trying for years to get enough money to fix up the old place. The $1,000 monthly rental stipend from FEMA is not enough for him to move, he said.
"You find a place for $1,000, man, you're very lucky," he said. "We just haven't had no success. Where am I going to go? I don't know."
