A man rides a bike in New Orleans, Louisiana, ahead of Hurricane Zeta.KATHLEEN FLYNN / Reuters
Hurricane Zeta made landfall on Wednesday afternoon near Cocodrie, about 190 kilometers southwest of New Orleans, as a Category 2 storm with maximum sustained winds of 177 kilometers per hour leaving heavy rains, floods and winds in that state. as reported by the National Hurricane Center (NHC, for its acronym in English).
On its way to New Orleans, where it was at around 5:30 p.m. (local time), the hurricane has left more than 127,000 people without power in Louisiana, according to CNH Baton Rouge meteorologist Kevin Gilmore.
The storm can leave strong swells and dangerous floods, so the authorities urged citizens to take shelter.
It is the last major storm to make landfall in that state this year and the 27th nationally.
Zeta has forced the city of New Orleans to close one of the last locks that surround it and in the next few hours it could affect the state of Mississippi, and then move towards Alabama, northeast Florida and Georgia.
Current conditions in Cut Off @ the Cut Off Youth Center #Zeta pic.twitter.com/LUA5mGqq1r
- Lafourche Parish Sheriff's Office (@LafourcheSO) October 28, 2020
The hurricane has reached the United States after passing as a tropical storm through the Yucatan Peninsula, in Mexico, where it left fallen trees and more than 300,000 people without electricity.
No personal injuries were reported.
The arrival of the hurricane could affect voting for the November 3 elections, since in some states the polls are open for early voting.
As the storm hits Florida, three heavily Republican counties in the northwestern Panhandle are cutting voting hours this week.
In Escambia and Santa Rosa, the early voting sites closed at 3:00 p.m. this Wednesday and will reopen their doors on Thursday at 11:00 a.m., while the Okaloosa early voting sites closed at 5:00 p.m. this Wednesday and on Thursday they open at 9.00.
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