Tropical Storm Francine strengthens off Mexico and is expected to hit Louisiana as a hurricane

BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) — Tropical Storm Francine was strengthening in the Gulf of Mexico earlier today, drenching coastal Mexico and Texas on its way to hit Louisiana as a hurricane on Wednesday night.

"We're going to have a very dangerous situation developing by the time we get into Wednesday for portions of the north-central Gulf Coast, primarily along the coast of Louisiana, where we're going to see the potential for life-threatening storm surge inundation and hurricane-force winds," said Michael Brennan, director of the US National Hurricane Center in Miami.

Heavy rain was already falling in northeastern Mexico and deep South Texas, where some places could get up to 12 inches (30 centimeters) into tonight, Brennan said. This afternoon, the hurricane center said the storm was becoming stronger and better organized.

Francine is taking aim at a stretch of coastline that has yet to fully recover since hurricanes Laura and Delta decimated Lake Charles, Louisiana, in 2020, followed a year later by Hurricane Ida. Over the weekend, a 22-story building in Lake Charles that had become a symbol of the destruction was imploded after sitting vacant for nearly four years, its windows shattered and covered in shredded tarps.

The storm surge pushed by Francine could reach as much as 10 feet (3 meters) along a stretch of Louisiana coastline from Cameron to Port Fourchon and into Vermilion Bay, forecasters said. And if the current track holds, the storm could blow northward up the Mississippi River, into the Illinois area by Saturday.

"Francine is expected to bring multiple days of heavy rainfall, considerable flash flooding risk," Brennan said.

Louisiana officials urged residents to immediately prepare for the storm while "conditions still allow" for it, Mike Steele, spokesperson for the Governor's Office of Homeland Security and Emergency Preparedness, told The Associated Press.

Storms like Francine can rapidly intensify, and people don't have the luxury of days to prepare, Steele said.

"We always talk about how anytime something gets into the Gulf, things can change quickly, and this is a perfect example of that," Steele said.

Residents of Baton Rouge, Louisiana's riverfront capital, began forming long lines as people filled up their gas tanks and stocked up on groceries. Others went to fill sandbags at city-operated locations to try to keep floodwaters from entering their homes.

"It's crucial that all of us take this storm very seriously and begin our preparations immediately," Baton Rouge Mayor-President Sharon Weston Broome said during a news conference Monday morning.

She urged residents to prepare a disaster supply kit, complete with enough food, water and essential supplies for three days.

A mandatory evacuation was ordered for seven remote coastal communities by the Cameron Parish Office of Homeland Security & Emergency Preparedness. They include Holly Beach, a laid-back stretch dubbed Louisiana's "Cajun Riviera," where many homes sit on stilts. The storm-battered town has been a low-cost paradise for oil industry workers, families and retirees, rebuilt multiple times after being struck by hurricanes.

And in Grand Isle, Louisiana's last inhabited barrier island, Mayor David Camardelle recommended residents evacuate and ordered a mandatory evacuation for those in recreational vehicles. Hurricane Ida decimated the city three years ago, damaging almost all of its 2,500 structures and destroying 700 homes.

Officials warn that flooding in the area is likely to begin Tuesday afternoon and persist through Thursday. There are also threats of high winds, downed trees and power outages.

The hurricane center said early Monday afternoon that Francine was located about 180 miles (285 kilometers) south-southeast of the mouth of the Rio Grande, and about 450 miles (720 kilometers ) south-southwest of Cameron, Louisiana, sustaining top winds of about 60 miles per hour (95 kilometers per hour). It was moving north-northwest at 5 mph (7 kph).

Flooding in northern Mexico forced schools to close Monday and Tuesday in Matamoros, across the border from Brownsville, Texas. Marco Antonio Hernandez Acosta, manager of the Matamoros Water and Drainage Board, said they were waiting for Mexico's federal government to provide pumps to drain the affected areas.

The storm is expected to be centered just offshore through Tuesday, and then intensify significantly from Tuesday night into Wednesday as it nears the upper Texas coast and Louisiana, according to the hurricane center.

A storm surge watch is in effect from the Texas coast near Houston across the entire coasts of Louisiana and Mississippi, while a hurricane watch has been issued for much of the Louisiana coast, from Cameron to Grand Isle.

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