Hurricane warnings as US Gulf Coast braces for Gordon

WASHINGTON: Tropical Storm Gordon gained strength as it moved steadily toward the US Gulf Coast Tuesday, on track to make landfall just east of New Orleans with hurricane force winds.
Authorities declared a state of emergency in the "Big Easy" — devastated in 2005 by mega Hurricane Katrina — and encouraged people living outside its levee system to evacuate voluntarily.
The Miami-based National Hurricane Centre (NHC) said Gordon, which formed near the upper Florida Keys Monday, was 306km southeast of the mouth of the Mississippi River at 1200 GMT (8pm Malaysia).
A hurricane warning was in place from the mouth of the Pearl River, on the Louisiana-Mississippi state line, to the Alabama-Florida border to the east.
At 1200 GMT, the storm was moving on a northwesterly track at a speed of 24kmh, packing maximum sustained winds of 100kmh that extended up to 129km from the storm's centre.
"The centre of Gordon will move across the eastern Gulf of Mexico today, and will approach the north-central Gulf Coast within the warning area late this afternoon or evening, and move inland over the lower Mississippi Valley tonight or early Wednesday," the NHC said in a statement.
Up to 20cm of rain could fall across the Gulf states. Meanwhile, warnings of a "life-threatening" storm surge of up to 1.5m were in place across a stretch of the Louisiana and Alabama coastline east of New Orleans.
"The deepest water will occur along the immediate coast near and to the east of the landfall location, where the surge will be accompanied by large waves," the NHC said.
The NHC added it expects "rapid weakening" once Gordon makes landfall. — AFP