The US Gulf Coast is bracing for Hurricane Delta, which is moving toward southwestern Louisiana as a Category 3 storm that is expected to make landfall Friday, according to reports.

The hurricane is about 250 miles south of Cameron, Louisiana, with maximum sustained winds of 120 mph – and could slowly weaken as it approaches the northern Gulf, the National Hurricane Center said.

It is expected to create a “life-threatening” storm surge when it arrives Friday afternoon or evening, forecasters said.

“I know people in Louisiana, especially the southwest, are very strong and very resilient, but they are going to be tested here,” Gov. John Bel Edwards said Thursday evening.

Current models show Delta making landfall between Lake Charles and Lafayette, driving a 4- to 11-foot storm surge up Vermilion Bay on the coast. It also could spawn tornadoes as it moves over land and drop up to 10 inches of rain, according to Reuters.

About 8,000 displaced residents are still living temporarily in hotel rooms and others’ homes remain damaged after Hurricane Laura struck the same area in August.

The US National Guard has been mobilized and people along the Louisiana coast have evacuated from their homes as Delta approaches, according to AFP.

“I don’t even know if we’ll have a house when we come back,” said Kimberly Hester of Lake Charles, where many homes are covered with tarps from previous hurricane damage. “I just pray to God every night we can at least have a house to come home to.”

Shannon Fuselier drilled plywood over the windows of a friend’s home as protection from flying debris.

“The branches and leaves don’t do that much damage,” Fuselier, 56, told AFP. “It’s pieces of metal, steel, frames of other people’s windows, signs from people’s stores, nails.”

She said she was staying because she didn’t think the storm was strong enough for her to evacuate.
Several communities, including Cameron Parish and Calcasieu Parish — where Lake Charles is located — have imposed mandatory evacuation orders, CNN reported.

A hurricane warning is in effect for High Island, Texas, to Morgan City, Louisiana — storm surge warnings are in effect for parts of Texas to Mississippi, according to the NHC.

Up to 10 inches of rain is expected through Saturday for areas in southern and central Louisiana, with some places forecast to receive as much as 15 inches, according to meteorologist Rob Shackelford Shackelford, CNN reported.