Tropical storm watch discontinued, wind speed projections lowered

The Tropical Storm watch including Morgan City has been canceled, and wind speed projections for St. Mary and Lower St. Martin parishes also have been lowered as Hurricane Zeta heads towards southeast Louisiana.
The watch had been issued from Intracoastal City to Morgan City.
“There will be some fairly windy conditions, primarily across St. Mary, Lower St. Martin and maybe Iberia parishes this afternoon as Zeta begins to approach southeast Louisiana,” Andy Patrick, meteorologist-in-charge at the National Weather Service’s Lake Charles office, said during the 10 a.m. briefing. “Otherwise, we don’t think there’s going to be widespread tropical storm force winds affecting those areas between the break points of Intracoastal City and Morgan City.”
St. Mary Parish President David Hanagriff said no mandatory or voluntary evacuations will be issued in St. Mary Parish.
St. Mary Parish Levee District Operations Manager Mike Brocato said the levee district will continue to monitor conditions.
“Water levels are down throughout the district, so we’re just going to keep an eye on things, and if something comes up, we will react to it,” he said.
A coastal flood advisory in St. Mary Parish is effective through 7 p.m. Wednesday, with storm tides of 1-2 feet possible at high tide. It’s possible tides could be below average after Zeta moves onshore, particularly if during the night, winds pick up offshore.
“There is a potential we might be issuing low water advisories sometime during the night or tomorrow morning,” Patrick said.
Rainfall projections are for 2 inches in St. Mary Parish.
“Most of the heavier rain will likely stay east, and keep in mind this system’s moving fairly quickly,” Patrick said.
With the region on the west side of the storm, it’s typically the drier of the two sides, Patrick said.
As for wind speeds, St. Mary Parish is expected to experience north winds from 20-30 mph with wind gusts up to 45 mph, which could begin through 1 p.m. and end between 6 p.m. and 8 p.m. Wednesday. Around the coast, the weather service said wind speeds could reach closer to 50 mph.
In Lower St. Martin, north winds reaching 20-30 mph with gusts to 40 mph could begin through 2 p.m. and end from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. Wednesday.
Zeta reemerged as a hurricane during the night and has intensified to 90 mph. It is quickly moving north into the central Gulf at 18 mph and is expected to make its northeast turn probably in a few hours, Patrick said.
“It may not weaken as much,” he said. “Normally, it’s coming into a bad environment, but it’s moving fairly quickly as well. So it may not have time to weaken a whole lot.”
Patrick said the New Orleans area and the Mississippi Gulf Coast will be affected, and then the hurricane, which is expected to lose strength and become a tropical storm by Wednesday night, will quickly move inland and impact Alabama and the Appalachian area.