Hurricane Delta's track shifts further west

Hurricane Delta has shifted further west and now is projected to make landfall Friday evening near Grand Cheniere in Cameron Parish as a Category 2 hurricane
As of 10 a.m. Thursday, it was moving northwest at 14 mph with maximum sustained winds of 105 mph.
While it is expected to strengthen to a Category 3 storm either late Thursday or early Friday, it still is anticipated to make landfall as a Category 2 hurricane, Roger Erickson of the National Weather Service said Thursday.
In St. Mary Parish, storm surge issues on the west end of the parish still is expected to be at least as bad at Laura, while residents were urged to remain cautious.
“A tornado can drop out of any of these things and wipe you out, so y’all need to be mindful of that,” St. Mary Parish Office of Emergency Preparedness Director David Naquin said.
Mandatory evacuations are in effect, as of noon Thursday, for areas south of the Gulf Intracoastal Waterway, west of the Wax Lake Outlet to the Iberia Parish line. This includes the Cypremort and Burns Point areas. A voluntary evacuation also has been issued for the parish’s west side beginning at noon.
If residents elect to leave in areas where mandatory evacuations have not been called, they are urged to do so Thursday.
However, Naquin said if residents can handle power outages for a few days, then they should be OK to stay.
“If you stay home, stay home,” Naquin said. “Don’t be driving the roads, doing your sightseeing so you can get on CNN with your phone. OK? That’s what’s going to happen. I know it, and it just gets in everybody’s way.”
St. Mary and St. Martin parishes are expected to receive tropical storm force winds beginning midday Friday and continuing until Friday evening.
Erickson said in his Thursday morning update that not as much emphasis is being placed on spot flooding on U.S. 90 now as it was Wednesday afternoon, but areas south or west of U.S. 90 in St. Mary Parish such as Burns and Cypremort points still are areas of concern.
As for flood protection enhancements, St. Mary Parish Levee District Operations Manager Mike Brocato Jr. said all emergency projects would be complete by day’s end. He said Bayou Teche is sealed with sheet pilings at the site of the future flood protection structure, while levee protection on Industrial Road has been raised to a 7 foot elevation. The levee district also is closing the north and south ends of Bayou Sale, Brocato said.
Brocato said the high-water peak will be sometime late Friday or early Saturday.