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The Capital Region will remain under a flood watch until Thursday morning as Hurricane Francine sets its sights on south Louisiana on Wednesday.
The latest advisory by the National Hurricane Center shows the hurricane making landfall just east of Morgan City and traveling northeast, with the eye passing between Baton Rouge and Denham Springs. The storm, which could intensify to a Category 2 status before making landfall late this afternoon, is expected to rapidly weaken after landfall.
President Joe Biden approved Gov. Jeff Landry’s request for a presidential emergency declaration on Tuesday evening, opening the door for Louisiana to receive federal assistance following Hurricane Francine.
FEMA also announced Wednesday morning that federal disaster assistance is available to the state to supplement response efforts due to emergency conditions. Sandra Eslinger has been named federal coordinating officer for federal recovery operations in the affected areas.
Ascension Parish, Livingston Parish, East Baton Rouge Parish and the city of St. George each issued their own emergency declarations on Tuesday.
Landry issued an executive order on Tuesday temporarily lifting the caps on the number of residents each nursing home in Louisiana can hold in order to ease evacuations ahead of the storm, Louisiana Illuminator reports. With the order, more evacuated nursing home residents can go to similar facilities in the state instead of shelters that might not be equipped with the supplies and equipment typically found at a nursing facility.
Garbage, recycling and out-of-cart trash collection are suspended in East Baton Rouge Parish for Wednesday. Collections will resume on the next regularly scheduled day. The North Landfill and Starwood Court Collection Facility will also be closed.
The Capital Area Transit System also announced it will suspend all services on Wednesday, including fixed-route, paratransit and microtransit services. Operations are expected to resume on Thursday.
