ABC NewsBy MAX GOLEMBO and EMILY SHAPIRO, ABC News
(NEW YORK) — Zeta, a Category 1 hurricane, is expected to strengthen to a Category 2 storm later Wednesday morning as it races toward the Gulf Coast.
The fast-moving Zeta could make landfall in southeast Louisiana Wednesday evening.
“You should be finalizing your preparations,” Louisiana Gov. John Bel Edwards warned Wednesday morning.
The biggest threat will be storm surge of up to seven feet in Louisiana and up to nine feet in Alabama and Mississippi.
Wind gusts are expected to reach 75 to 100 mph in New Orleans.
New Orleans canceled all public school classes for the day in anticipation of the storm.
New Orleans Regional Transit Authority is suspending all bus, streetcar and ferry services beginning at noon.
Louisiana has been especially hard-hit this hurricane season. Zeta will become the third hurricane to make landfall in Louisiana in two months.
After Wednesday, Zeta’s remnants will move into the Northeast bringing rain and snow. The first accumulating, widespread snowfall of the season is possible for Connecticut, Rhode Island, Massachusetts and New York’s Hudson Valley.
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