WAFB 9 News at 9 Hurricane Francine Coverage September 11, 2024

AF fb9 news tracking hurricane Francine and here at 9:00 we are tracking hurricane Francine together all about making sure that you are informed and aware of all the developments on this Wednesday in our particular viewing area not expecting any kind of a Major Impact for a number of hours we're still not expecting landfall until maybe what 2 3 4:00 where that landfall is going to be with Francine we think we believe right now according to lest track right around Morgan City well we have a Live Crew down there Matt V has been live all morning long and Matt you were along the seaw wall there where have you moved to at this hour and what are you seeing here 9:00 yeah Liz uh we're actually still at the seaw wall just now we're next to it so I want Brandon to kind of show you with these boots on uh that I had to get for this purpose right got to be ready um I'm about 6t tall and this thing is probably at least double my height if not maybe a little bit more so puts into perspective kind of the protection this is providing to the shops and the and the things we were showing a little bit earlier here Brandon can show you and I also wanted to show you too because the rain really has picked up a lot I know we said that the last time we joined you guys but I mean here's a just a a drain right here really and and the water is still collecting quite a bit outside of it but I mean we're we're splashing quite a bit so I mean it's still you know 2 3 hours before this thing's really supposed to land and the wind has picked up quite a bit um it's just something we're just going to have to wait and see and that seems to be the conversation from everyone right now all the different reporters that are reporting from different parishes in the viewing area and kind of what they're seeing in certain spots I mean you see over there that's our unit right here wfb Channel 9 car um there there's a good puddle collecting right behind it as well um you even see some other stations over there Fox National their weather channel uh guys are are are over there doing some conversations as well so we've been picking their ear a little bit about what they're expecting and ultimately again since this appears to be Ground Zero what people are expecting to be where landfall is initially going to strike once this thing gets into the states here in Louisiana um this is probably where we're going to see the most impact right off the gate when it does get here so uh until then I mean water's dripping down from from the seaw wall here um we are trying to as well speak with the the sheriff uh of uh St Mary Parish that should be hopefully a conversation uh in in the coming minutes hopefully um but ultimately again we're just trying to trying to stay safe trying to stay all right you know we're ready to go over there if wind starts to pick up a little bit but it did happen in a matter of mere minutes where I was like oh yeah the rain is starting to pick up a little bit and then it just came out of nowhere so obviously we've ditched the umbrella we had the Hat on now we got the hood so um you know this is kind of the update we have for you we are trying to stay safe here um again the curfew here locally kicks in at about 11:00 a.m. and we'll carry on through uh into tomorrow morning so there are a couple of cars I think one just went by that you know there's a handful of cars in the area um we've seen a couple people drive around you know wishing us to stay safe and whatnot um but at 11: we hope that they're going to be parked and at their homes because uh no one should be driving out here in you know probably uh three or four hours from now so um still something to monitor we'll continue to update as we can and trying to be ready because it seems like Francine is getting closer and closer guys um so that's kind of what we have for you here so we'll send it back to you guys in the studio Matt thank you eyes on the ground they're in Morgan City right now look it it looks like a light rain right for a lot of folks in south Louisiana like okay what next well what next is what we're getting ready for if you've never been to Morgan City if you've never stood next to that wall it is pretty impressive we've been down there a number of times I know you have this as well that's about 20 ft yeah right 20 ft tall and the whole idea for that wall and that place is to stop uh a flood they water pushing in from the bay it is that tall for a reason to protect uh Morgan City and Beyond um what they expect as far as surge to get to that point how much of the wall might they have to use and need it's there for a reason but on the other side of that thing you saw some stuff boarded up you know Matt's been showing us that this morning but they know how to do it there in Morgan City they've done this before little light rain as folks get ready for what's still early on in the day here and we're riding through it with you together again we've got Crews all over South Louisiana and we want to check back in with Josh Robertson with our sister station Fox 8 W in New Orleans he's been kind of roaming around in lefo Parish there we last checked in with him uh he was live in leeville let's see where he is now we're in leeville we just got to leeville if you know where that is where this is Old Highway One it keeps going right into leeville right behind us is the uh gateway to the gulf which will take you to port fuchan and eventually Grand AIS not any place you want to be right now because we're seeing those flooding uh those flooding issues and I'll come over here and I'll show you these guys are here we tried to talk to them they were too busy they couldn't talk to us cuz they're tying up their boat right now uh these guys here they're getting ready to tie up their boat as we speak and then they're probably getting out of here and obviously these areas right here Grand Isle if you keep going down Gateway uh the gateway to the gulf you get to a Grand Isle that is under a mandatory evacuation we're in lefou Parish obviously and here in leville where we're seeing if you walk down a little bit and we'll take a little stroll here and kind of show you the the flooding it's becoming a problem here bayu starting to over top Highway one and we saw a lot of that as soon as we crossed over outside of the levy protection as soon as we went over The Floodgate which on Bay lefo The Floodgate is closed the road gate they're going to keep open because they don't think it's going to over top that the road gate actually sits on top of the levy it's pretty high up they don't feel like that's going to get breached so they're going to keep that road gate open The Floodgate is closed and as soon as we went over we started seeing the the Bayou and that storm surge starting to impact the roadway and some cars and if you look keep pass I'll let Jake walk on past me you can see the the the water starting to come over Highway one here uh in leeville and then way off in the distance you see the highrise that gateway to the gulf which again uh we might venture down to see just how far we can go but we're not going to linger out here long because it's not it's going to get less and less safe as Francine gets closer and we're expecting to see that wind we're going to expect to see more rain because the rain rain's been pretty consistent it's not unbearable it's not we're not getting well I say we're not getting drenched we're drenched just because we've been standing out here in it for quite a long time now but the rain is pretty steady the wind is not impacting really much of anything right now but those those conditions are going to deteriorate as we get Francine closer and closer to us wherever it decides to make landfall it's going to cause storm surge right here where we are right now and it's going to cause uh a big issue with the wind probably going to knock some stuff over and so if you're here in this area you want to go ahead and get north of the levy protection system in lefou Parish we talked to the president Archie Chas on he says they're well aware of the conditions they're in their Command Center they got all the parish officials ready to go they got all their problem areas checked they got uh additional pumps those portable pumps that they set out in places if you're in place like lefit you'll see them also and in tabone you'll see them their pumps are all working and then they have the portable pumps that they put in some of those problem areas so they can just continue to pump water out when they need to but they're going to stay on top of all of this they're going to monitor the situation here in lefou Parish uh again there's a curfew that goes into place uh at noon starting at noon so they don't want businesses open at that point they want residents wherever they're at at that point they want them to stay there in Lockport they got a community center where they're open right now that is the shelter of Last Resort in Lockport they Archie actually told me earlier this morning there are people that are utilizing that uh Community Center that shelter of Last Resort already as they speak they've got shelter for him there you want to make sure and bring your belongings if you need to bring uh uh some uh some amenities bring food if you need it water stuff like that but it is going to be a shelter there for you if you're staying in a trailer or staying in some sort of a home that is not safe uh that can't handle flooding conditions or wind conditions like we're going to see pick up here so we're pretty far south right now we're going to hang out here until we feel like we don't want to anymore and then we're going to go ahead and go north but we'll send it back to you now uh we're live here in leeville uh keeping an eye on these conditions as we know Francine getting closer and closer now all right Josh thank you so with any of the storms there especially for our folks and viewers who live closer to the coastal parishes there you may already be using your generator just out of precaution to make sure it works here before things start really kicking up and people lose power and we want to remind you that a lot of the threat the danger comes well after the storm passes right Matt how often do we talk about carbon monoxide poisoning and that the importance of having carbon monoxide detectors really hope that you have a couple of those lying around your home right now you know and it's it's one thing to have us say it we want to say we want to repeat that for you so just it's fresh on your mind but earlier this morning Matt V was talking with the fire chief right there in Morgan City and he could not talk about it enough um he's obviously been around for a minute he understands the difficulties the dangers that come with trying to power your life post uh storm before the power comes back on um just be safe out there again we mentioned it because every time we get a storm or you know Coast to Coast around the country East Coast Left Coast Third Coast you'll have problems with generators and carbon monoxide poisoning be safe so as we continue to track Francine's landfall still early on here we're tracking that later on into the afternoon landfall still looking to be later on this afternoon between 2 roughly till 5:00 p.m. so right now we want to get a better look at some of the live cameras here this is courtesy of lumcon there in terone in Paris you're getting a look if you didn't know it stands for Louisiana University's Marine Consortium that's where we're getting this live look right now and you can see Matt a little bit of light rain as we've seen over the last hour we checked in with Rob creger who was there in tabone uh still kind of waiting for the Major Impact to come asore there still pretty quiet as we see so that's we're taking you South clearly we were just giving you a look at lefo Parish one Parish to the left that's exactly where you were a second ago that'd be terrione and these are the parishes kind of under the gun so to speak as Francine begins to come closer and closer to making that landfall where specifically is that going to happen we we believe kind of right near Morgan City which is why we have our mat Venia there but when we talk about getting down into uh those lower parishes those are the folks that know if they need to start getting out you know roadwise that kind of thing of course we got somebody in our little part of the world here who can always keep the eyes on the road for us that's it Johnny asan already monitoring all of our traffic cameras getting you a look Johnny I believe you've got what 200 plus cameras to track all the things sure do we're looking at all of them I want to give you an update periodically and that may sound like a broken record plaman Sunshine ferry boat is running right now it will go out of service at 10:00 a.m. so that they can take that and secure it uh in preparation for gale force winds that's going to be the case for all the fairies in the New Orleans area Canal Street fery Shelmet ferry things like that now the gross Tate pedestrian Ferry is already closed in Iberville Parish they will remain closed until sometime maybe tomorrow afternoon out of an abundance of caution cats has informed us they will not be running buses today at all in the city of Baton Rouge because of the hurricane they'll resume that tomorrow all right Airport departures out of BTR we told you earlier this morning that everything after about 10:00 or 11:00 was cancelled except Delta was hanging on some flights in fact that Delta to Atlanta at 12:22 for a long time they said that was on time they have now joined American and United and they've canceled flight so we have one more flight departure out of BTR before they hunker down for the storm and that's going to be the Delta to Atlanta at 10:20 take you right on down we've got the overlay on here take you right on down toward terone Parish right near the hom area so here's Tibido right here here's hom you see some rain shower activity starting to come into the air we're off again on again some of our cameras in terone Parish and H are starting to go down this one's up uh this is high we 182 New Orleans Avenue that's the New Orleans bridge over uh Bayou terone and Bayou Tbone looks a little high there I can tell you from being in this area I know this area well it's not that's what it looks like normally so will it get higher than that not sure take it back out from the home of tibo area and go north of there up toward I 55 between ponchatula and llas right around by you man Shack we have a camera shot there and that's going to be right near the menend dorf's area that's my point of reference cuz I love the thin fried catfish we will be able to get some later not today so do be careful as you make your way in and around skyline of New Orleans from our wfb sky9 camera networks and that is starting to get a little busy however I just got off the phone with the lake Pon train Causeway police there are no restrictions North or Southbound on the causeway as of this hour guys all right Johnny thank you for keeping your eyes all across south Louisiana hey let's talk about some resources here while we have you sandbags right in our viewing area still going to be a bit of time so you have some time here last bit of preparations especially when you talk about maybe the elderly or disabled individuals we've just learned Livingston Parish they've already pre-filled some of those sandbags at the lpso Walker facility just have someone comp pick them up and drop them off to you but Matt you can see all across our viewing area different parishes already there were and it's it's a it's a long list and our digital team is working to keep that updated you know at some point it may run out here and there I tell you what Liz though um ever since well Gustaf 08 since 2016 and to when the mayor was just in with us she's like you know we didn't I was in a flood zone right and then all of a sudden out of your house for you know a year and a half um since 16 the ability to do something to feel like you're keeping your stuff as safe as possible it matters um and sandbags for a lot of folks that's kind of it's kind of the way to go and it has made a difference for a lot of folks so to to your point as well there's still some time right now it's calmish if you don't have to be out there don't be out there that's the advice but if you still feel like you need that sandbag to keep your spot safe to make you feel better you got locations and abundance of caution and please folks look out for your neighbor here if you have elderly neighbors or maybe in your neighborhood think about them too while it's calm this is going to be a good time to go out there fill up those sandbags and make sure that our neighbors are taken care of in the event that this becomes something that's a little dicey here we're tracking all of it for you making sure you're prepared stay with us we'll be right back you there boy what day is today boy it's debate day Sir John Stewart's at the desk and they said it couldn't be done to cover the debate that could change the world as we know it hey John come back to the Daily Show just for the election it'll be fine you'll do one day a week it'll be a lar Comedy Central The Daily Show complete debate coverage with John Stewart now streaming on Paramount plus oh hey I'm your celebrity spokesperson for Z the new way to stream local news sports and events from all over the country but Z speaks for itself doesn't need a celebrity spokesperson to tell you to download Z besides an X9 like myself might resort to pandering gimmicks you're too smart for that let's cut to the Z logo before I do some sexy overdramatic ending [Music] huh Z always local always free to help protect from HIV I prep without pills with apitude a prescription medicine used to reduce the risk of HIV without daily prep pills with one shot every other month just six times a year in studies aptude was proven Superior to a daily prep pill and reducing the risk of HIV you must be HIV negative to receive aptitude and get tested before injection if you think you were exposed to HIV or have flu like symptoms tell your doctor right away apud does not prevent other sexually transmitted infections practice safer sex to reduce your risk don't take aptude if you're allergic to it or taking certain medicines as they may interact tell your doctor if you've had liver or kidney problems or mental health concerns if you have a rash or other allergic reactions stop aptude and get medical help right away serious side effects include allergic reactions liver problems and depression some of the most common side effects in include injection site reactions and headache you must receive Aude is scheduled ask your doctor about long acting apitude save attitude.com you there boy what day is today boy it's debate day Sir John Stewart's at the Des and they said it couldn't be done to cover the debate that could change the world as we know it hey John come back to the Daily Show just for the election it'll be fun you'll do one day a week it'll be a lar come Central's The Daily Show complete debate coverage with John Stewart now streaming on Paramount plus wb9 news tracking hurricane Francine at 9:18 on this Wednesday morning uh as we continue to track hurricane Francine not a lot of immediate impact locally just yet but the storm and kind of the outer feeder bands already have an impact at some level so Johnny as's been tracking flight cancellations so let's get you a look out of MSY if you had a flight planned out of uh New Orleans there you can see this web story we're staying on top of that you're hearing from the Jefferson Paris president if you open that story right now with us but most of those flights out of New Orleans well they've been cancelled no surprise there as Francine is incoming why put the risk out there with people up in the air so just know if you had a flight out today chances are it's going to be canceled don't make your way over to Louis Armstrong now here's the thing uh what about making your way over to Baton Rouge Metro what about the flights over there actually our Gabrielle Mercurio has made her way around and is actually at Metro right now uh Gabby I'm not seeing a lot of folks behind you what's the latest with Metro Hey guys you're absolutely right it is a little bit of a ghost town here but the airport's actually still open so there's a one last flight that's arriving in just arrived around 9:15 that's what director Mike Edwards just told me just got off the phone with him a few minutes ago that's a last last flight coming to the airport that flight will also have a group of passengers going right back out in about an hour or so that's the last flight that's coming out of this Airport United and uh American a Airlines canel all the rest of their arrivals and departures for today so definitely want to make sure that you're checking if you were supposed to fly out at some point um an interesting thing though the director of the airport told me that they will stay open they'll have Crews here to monitor what's going on and make sure the taxiways are everything are all right but um no flights are going out it's not up to them on whether those flights will be coming in and out it's up to the airlines so make sure you go ahead and check with your airline um where your flight is supposed to be going um for rescheduling or when it's supposed to come back in or out uh the like I said the airport will stay open they're going to be monitoring conditions uh throughout the entirety of the storm making sure if there's damage Mike also told me that they'll be doing uh routine Airfield inspections monitoring the taxi ways when it's safe to do so obviously uh as the winds and rain start coming through to make sure that there's no damage because they use those taxiways often for um Emergency Operations as well so no regular flights coming in and out there's one more going out today in about an hour like I said I'm sure you've heard Johnny say it is as well but that's about it so it's going to be pretty quiet here at the airport everything's going to be wrapping up in about an hour so no more flights in and out today want to check and see if there going to be any tomorrow either some great on the ground reporting there thank you for a live look and we'll keep our eyes on that Gabby thanks okay so keeping our eyes on where Francine is right now as the hours and the minutes kind of tick by here getting closer to expected landfall and the the shift and track what it might be doing our storm team's been all over Jared Silverman joining us live for the very latest here um to get the very you know get us caught up here on on where Francine is and what we might expect that's it our first L weather team making sure that you are on top of it in fact make sure you have the WF weather app Jared sent out an update not long ago and Jared are you getting any new updates here at 9:21 we're actually waiting for the 10:00 update guys which is going to come out pretty soon we're expecting that it is still going to be somewhere around category one which it is right now maximum sustained winds at 90 mph that of course at the last check could briefly get up to a category to now first things first of course we still have our flood watch that's in effect through 7:00 a.m. tomorrow morning but it might even be able to let go a little bit earlier than that because the models agree this should pick up some speed especially when it moves Inland and especially as it moves past the Baton Rouge area which by the way EBR and West Baton Rouge parishes from those points back down to the South we still have the hurricane warning but you can see as this track has generally migrated farther in farther to the West it has made a dent over in the western part of Louisiana La yet they were actually under that same hurricane warning not so it's over for them now and the severe weather threat is going to push generally over to the east as well meantime the radar is starting to get a little bit busy this is what we were expecting we were expecting the weather conditions to gradually deteriorate as we get to the latter part of the morning and what we're seeing right now is nothing overly taxing but this is one of the main rain shields on the Northern flank of Hurricane Francine so it makes sense that the farther and farther south we go Golden Meadow gallano H dlac over to Morgan City gener and right along generally the 90 Highway 90 area we're starting to see it move at a better clip right there but again even those showers you could see the general Trend as they start to move a little bit more to the north they get cut off from their moisture source and then they start to lose their punch just a little bit but the storm itself definitely is not losing its punch matter of fact it is expected to at the very least at the bare minimum maintain its current course and strength that means when it hits it should be with maximum sustained winds of at least 90 mph by the way that's still Mak at a higher end category one could jump up to a low-end category 2 right before that happens now of course I'm going to show you both models between the differences of the graph and also the Euro so you're looking at the graph this has been the faster one but not only that this has been the real ring leader that's been wanting to take this storm much much closer to the new orle New Orleans area rather than Baton Rouge so as we put it in motion here it is and as I mentioned this is the faster model so right now I'm leaning on this model being a little bit too fast because this shows the uh landfall right around 1 2:00 in the afternoon I really do think it's going to be a little bit later where I somewhat agree is that it's going to take a path remember when Ida moved through and it kind of picked a lane in between Baton Rouge and New Orleans I think that's what this one's going to do too only this time around the center circulation should be a little bit closer to Baton Rouge I'm going to show you that on the European nevertheless at 3:30 in the afternoon the graph says from Reserve down to H over to New Orleans they're going to get the heavier rain the one thing that we're definitely gaining confidence on from a forecasting standpoint is that New Orleans and Eastern Louisiana they're going to be on the bad side they're going to be on the dirty side of the storm that east side that is notorious for getting spin up and getting rotation but one of the things that we've been saying at least the models agree on the timing out maybe not the timing in but the end time should be very shortly after midnight so that's good it's not going to waste a lot of time it's going to put on some speed and howl on out of here pretty quickly now let's show you a couple of wind gusts with it this is the forecast wind gust from the graph model and you can see right here right around cadry and in between Morgan City that's where it's got landfall so the latest the graph has kind of pushed down a little bit and in fact this new update on the graph look at that this is actually slowed down a little bit to me that tells me that the models are now starting to come together they're starting to at least agree a little bit better on the timing and there you can see what happens now the graph model this model would be worse for New Orleans but it would be better for the Baton Rouge area you could see the wind gust there not quite as brisk as I mentioned it moves through quickly this is midnight tonight and look at that it's already getting on out of here by Daybreak matter of fact even before Daybreak not only should it be out of our viewing area it should be completely out of the state and then we can get on with our lives and get on with the cleanup hopefully it won't be that bad now let's go with the European the European has been consistently the slower model let me show you what I'm talking about this 3:00 in the afternoon European still has it well out to seea but we freeze it here it still says Morgan City it's been real consistent about that I'll tell you that the past few days and this is 7 p.m. so right now that's where I'm kind of hedging my bets I think landfall should be around the Morgan City to cadri area I'm looking at a time frame anywhere between 3: in the afternoon to I think a little bit earlier than 700 p.m. so right now let's say landfall should be later in the afternoon and Inland by the time we get to early evening nevertheless you see that the winds pick up over in Morgan City now I'm going to point my finger in Baton Rouge let's see if it's still doing the same thing and it is so this is around 9 9:30 p.m. and the European model shows that we'll get a 70 mph maybe even a little bit more than a 70 mph wind gust in the Baton Rouge area now if you're wondering why that would pan out here's the reason why because notice how the center circulation the European has the center circulation much much more biased much closer to the Baton Rouge area so it makes sense if that actually panned out we would get those stronger wind gusts of 70 to 80 miles hour won't be a cat 2 or anything like that but still we could definitely see a lot in the way of widespread power outages of course if the eye Hedges itself a little bit closer towards New Orleans like what the graph is saying then the winds won't be as bad so right now the European is saying that it's getting very close to the Baton Rouge area but we should at least be on the better side if there is one a cleaner side hopefully the side that has less spin up less rotation and less severe weather now as far as the rain you would think because this storm's going to move through pretty quickly it won't stop and drop a lot of rain but it still looks like it is going to do just that a general four to S Ines is still expected which is the reason why we've got the Wednesday flood out looks still in red still level three moderate now it's shift gears and return to what we were talking about a second ago with the possibility of severe weather this is what happens when that track keeps on shifting right when it keeps on shifting towards New Orleans I mean this has just been great news for the Lafayette to Lake Charles area remember in the beginning a few days ago from Lafayette to Lake Charles they were worried that this might have their names written all over it and even Lafayette Once Upon a Time was in the same hurricane warning that we have right now it's no longer there it's Gone With The Wind in fact they're not even expecting severe weather in the Lafayette area and now Baton Rouge we're at a level one which again makes sense because we should at least be on the west side of the circulation even if it is relatively close now not great news if you're in the eastern part of our viewing area so once you go east I would say Livingston Walker going over to Hammond going down to New Orleans you folks of course might have a better chance of getting some of that torn natic activity right now we don't have any tornado watches no tornado warnings but again I wouldn't be surprised if we start to see that ramp up a little bit later on in the day Meanwhile we're waiting for the 10: a.m. update we're going to get that soon I suspect we're not going to see any tremendous changes here hopefully it's not going to be any stronger than the 90 M hour we have right now also looking at the minimum pressure which has come down to 976 so as that minimum pressure comes down a little bit sometimes that's suggest suggestive that we're going to get a Little Bit Stronger so it could briefly become that category two that would be a maximum sustained win at 100 miles per hour that just barely puts it over the threshold for cat 2 let me get in a little bit tighter so you can see this is the official track and you can see what the official track is doing it looks like it's taking a little bit of the graph a little bit of the European kind of sticking them and blending them together but they still say that it should be very close to the Morgan City area now I wouldn't be surprised if in the coming updates the next couple of NHC tracks I wouldn't be surprised if they push a little more to the east so that's really what I'm going to be looking for out of these next couple of updates cuz you can see the center line right here it's still on the other side of Morgan City the New Iberia side and I actually think if anything it might be on the cadry side the port Fon side and we'll keep an eye on that now when that Center circulation passes close to Baton Rouge I should point out at this point it's not supposed to be a hurricane anymore it should weaken down to a strong tropical storm wind should start to come down and after midnight that's it it really is going to take off and get out of here Dr Steve was showing you this the other day I wanted to show it too this is the migration that we've seen over the past couple of days from track to track all the NHC tracks so again these are not computer models this was each track that we were getting from the National Hurricane Center and you could see how much they have shifted just over the past few days very reminiscent isn't it of what happened with hurricane Ida of course this time around it's not going to be nearly as strong as Ida that storm was a beast this one hopefully a little bit more manageable and of course now we've sh shifted the peak wind gust potential because of that shift in the track so now Baton Rouge I would say again we could see the 70 to 80 mph wind gust it wouldn't be sustained it would just be a gust but then as you go a little bit closer towards the lake Poncha train area towards New Orleans and in between there in Hammond certainly down towards the coast you folks over in h again I wouldn't be surprised if you guys did get hurricane force winds a little bit later on in the afternoon as it approaches also when you live close to the coast like that the immediate Coastline still has that 5 to 10t storm surge potential now that could stretch a little bit farther out towards the south and east but again that's more of a problem on the immediate Coastline and again we dialed up this storm really on the right time of the hurricane season the peak time and we are right at the top of the pyramid the top of the pyramid usually happens right around September 10th September 11th and then you get that sharp decrease so hopefully we're going to see that and hopefully this is the only storm like this that we're going to have to deal with in Louisiana crossed on that so again let's sum this up with a couple of key messages heavy rain and flood threat that's going to be today and tonight the weather starts to really go downhill late in the morning early in the afternoon what we're going to prepare for are hurricane force winds not everybody in the viewing area is going to see that but we want to prepare for the worst stay safe hope for the best and most of our area I would say category one the category two possibility really is more for the immediate Coast before it encounters that drier air the more stable air and it start starts to stabilize a little bit and what I think could be one of the best things right here the weather rapidly improves on Thursday as soon as Daybreak on Thursday all the rain should be over and the system starts to pull out the other good thing that I was talking about now we don't want to lose power of course but if we do lose power at least we have these temperatures here that are going to be in the upper 70s not the brutal heat that we have dealt with in months past so at least that's somewhat of a silver lining again obviously we would all rather just keep our power and get on with our lives I that overnight low 71 keep the rain chance pumped up now you can't see it here we only go up to 11:00 p.m. but after midnight I'm going to take you down from 80% and drive it all the way down to 0% matter of fact so much to 0% that as we get to Thursday we have now subtracted that red so we're no longer in a First Alert weather day for Thursday just the First Alert weather day for today that's the action day then we're looking better and then it does start to heat up so hopefully um they can really do a good job repairing power uh I would say before weekend because it will get a little bit hotter not crazy hopped it back into the 90s as you have a look at the remainder of the 10-day forecast much more quiet nicer and uneventful but again guys the name of the game is that we're going to keep our eyes glued to satellite and radar waiting on that 10: a.m. update to make sure that the storm hasn't put on even more strength all right Jared thank you so as we wait for that here let's get you an update from ticka we're seeing some flooding there of the ticka in Livingston Parish uh the Livingston Parish Sheriff's Office sharing some of these photos here look at that is that look at that this is so this is Tif not the the town of tick fall like in like in t Okay so well yeah obviously this is what they're they're they're kind of staring at here a boat that uh should be above water underwater this is kind of what they expect when something like this comes ashore uh hasn't come ashore yet but we're getting those outer feeder bands and and yes so those low-lying areas folks there know exactly man they could probably tell you to the foot where this is going to be happening the water they're going to start to see begin to rise and so we are going to start to see that as this rain kind of settles into its pattern those low-lying areas they're going to see exactly that well speak about what we're seeing here let's check in back with Matt Venia he's live in Morgan City and Matt can you tell us exactly what street you're on there for for us to kind of get our bearings yeah Liz we're right next to the seaw wall that we were at a little bit earlier now again more of the shopping district here right off frit Street um but you know again everything continuing as normal right the rain is picking up the wind is picking up we do have the uh the sheriff of St Mary Parish with us uh Greg Driscoll here with us to speak a little bit about you know the operations up to this point I'm sure you've been I mean we've seen you bouncing all over talking to different people so this is probably going to be a same run of the land but essentially what's the morning looked like you know getting ready for today and and what's on the itinerary for you before this thing you know gets to us here probably in about two hours right now we have extra patrols out we're checking the water levels and things of that nature making sure that everybody's going to stay safe we're hoping that everybody stays indoors and and allows us to do our our jobs but we have like I said we're prepared we have high water Vehicles we have boats ready hopefully we won't need any of them and with it shifting a little bit further east hopefully uh guides on our side now uh up to this point it appears that there's the the curfew here in Morgan City beginning at 11:00 a.m. probably just you know a little over an hour from now are there other parts of of the viewing area here Parish locally other cities that are also having a curfew what what can you say about that Morgan City and Burwick is the the only two that I know of that are having the curfews from 11:00 a.m. to 6:00 a.m. tomorrow morning okay keep everybody off the roads and keep them safe so that they can Patrol and do what they have to do without having to worry about these extra people out and we were speaking to the Morgan City uh uh police chief a little bit earlier he was mentioning that there will be units out on the road officers out there just checking things out before things get real bad what can you say about you know the crews that you're going to be kind of monitoring before the winds really do start picking up and trying to keep everyone safe correct we're going to keep crws out as long as we can until the winds get too harsh and and too dangerous for the deputies uh we've been working very well with all the municipalities the Mayors State Police Wildlife Fisheries so we're just going to keep working as normal until we can okay Mr Driscoll thank you so much for your time again just giving us an update here on what uh law enforcement what everyone here are trying to keep everyone safe is doing um as things continue to progress but again looking at that clock uh I think Francine's not too far away from getting to us here so we'll continue to to be ready for that and to stay safe and ready uh down here in St Mary Parish so guys with that we'll send it back to you mad Mania Brandon sha for giving us comprehensive coverage there out of St Mary Parish making sure all of our bases are covered and here's where you can help us upload your photos and videos as long as it's safe and you can get outside and snap a photo send them in to us as long as you have our 9 News app even our WF firster weather app there's a nine report section you open up the app and then on the homepage you'll see all these es look for the nine reports bubble and that's where you can submit your photos and videos to us you know what's really helpful Matt when people send those things into US let us know kind of what street we're looking at some context of what we're looking at and that really helps us tell that story and show off exactly where we're looking at and what we're looking at context is going to be absolutely key yeah let us share those stories and help tell the story of Francine now uh part of the story hopefully is you not driving around now if you have to get out there um Louisiana State Police putting out this list of just be safe while you are out there the very top one that's the best one avoid the unnecessary travel you know what to do out there not your first time dealing with rain and maybe a little bit of wind here reduce your speed allow all the extra time increase the following distance do the things that you were taught in driving school though we don't really pay attention to on the daily basis here in south Louisiana State Police hoping you do that today if you have to be out there it's worth repeating because people need reminders not to panic but to have a plan and make sure that you are listening here and let's also get you a listen at the list of shelters as you can see our WF digital team has been keeping up with the number of shelters opening up and we're getting this really by the hour here the last one we've heard of from Iberville Parish we're scrolling through and you can see St John St James and some of these are going to be shelters of Last Resort the majority of them in fact and Iberville Paris just know that they are not taking pets so if you are ending to evacuate maybe you just don't feel safe maybe you feel uh if you live in a mobile home or RV especially that that's not the safest place to ride this out well go ahead make your way there but again check this list and make sure that pets are allowed at these places remember they are family members the last thing you want to do is leave them behind and then call Emergency Services to go get them because they were left behind that's a tough look this is something that goes back well many hurricanes but the if for folks who are here for like a Katrina andita that kind of thing or even a Gustaf in 08 there were so many of those stories I had to leave them behind I couldn't take them and so we so many stories came out about that that we started to see more shelters taking in MH pets it it yeah I know if you've got one of those to your point one of those furry family members you need to get out and you're coming up on a place that doesn't take them I know that sucks uh but they're trying to make sure that they have everything they they can and some restrictions in place that kind of a thing but yeah it's been a while I mean going all the way back a number of years in a number of storms where F folks are like I had nowhere to go CU I had my pets with me my family members with me the sing Single most memory that I have is the flood of 2016 look I think it's safe to say a lot of people are caught off guard with the amount of rainfall we got the evacuation plan a lot of people were in the same boat thinking my home is never flooded before I don't need to worry about this and then some people left their pets behind while we were live out in the field I still remember we were going around in Ascension Parish and you'd be surprised the uh the great crew we were with volunteers who just came up out of nowhere saying we have boats we have life jackets let's get you on we ended up doing a couple of runs back and forth to dry land just rescuing pets people who had tied up their dogs people who had left their cats in cages rabbits even still remember um if you were watching and you were part of that crew that day so many volunteers stepped up the Cajun Navy being some of them there but it was sad to see how many pets were left behind just because uh people in other rescue boats just couldn't accommodate those pets here and remember in in most of our viewing area a lot of the animal shelter City Parish offices Parish government offices uh animal services is included in that and they are not open today they want to make sure that their staff is safe and and uh they don't have to be out if they don't need to be so even if you were to make that call chances are your getting rescued is not going to be the call today because the office is not staffed today human life is going to be obviously it's going to take the priority in the president uh but yeah that's those conversations to your point I mean it's just they've been happening for years just make sure you know where you headed and what you're able to bring with you that's the goal as with anything you can stay on top of all of our resources that we have ready and waiting for you wfb.com in the N news app and remember to download that wfb weather app while it's while it's on the top of your mind here let's remind you to downlo download that we're staying on top of all the things making sure that you have all of the updates and and that you need in about 20 minutes we are expecting the next track to come out from the National Weather Service here to see find out what hurricane Francine is doing where she's looking what she's looking like now as we track the latest developments remember it's about uh 90 mes hour right now that pressure that they continue to watch that lets our meteorologists know if it might be increasing in strength and now this doesn't mean in size but in the pressure talking about actually its power uh what it is able to possibly do still right now before the 10:00 update thinking it could possibly become that cat too again we'll see that next update coming in at about 10 o'clock we'll see if the shift uh changes a little bit with you know where it might be coming ashore it has shifted certainly since Sunday since we started walking that or watching that shifted to the east again about 10 o'clock that's it of course with anything our first FL weather team is making sure that you are staying on top of all of that so you might be thinking as you join our conf our coverage here this morning we've been live since about 4:30 you anday on top of it just making sure that you are prepared not unnecessarily but it's making sure that we have all of the information at our fingertips so that you and your family know okay what are we facing depending on where we live because not everyone lives in Tang Parish not everyone lives in East bat Rouge Parish so depending on where you live I know we're getting a lot of specific questions about where is this going to Target what time is it going to hit my area and remember that can change a lot can change between now and this afternoon we're still eyeing that landfall time so that's why we're keeping you on top of all follow this and then note that that will change as well so our messaging here a lot of the city Parish officials and uh Parish officials and government leaders that were following here they just want to make sure that you are aware and on top of all of this and then uh we're checking in with State leaders as well and about 11:30 this morning we're about to hear from Governor uh Jeff Landry on the latest update on how goep is preparing it'll be interesting Matt to see how how this plan will will kind of unfold here the GOP and the unified command group kind of staying on the same page with the messaging but this is largely Governor Jeff Landry's first test in office uh he was elected as attorney general back in 2019 so uh he in that role talk price couging when you talk about um gas and commodities and things that you may need and of course hurricane Ido was a big test as he was attorney general but as Governor met this is going to be a first big real test it's another level and then of course you talked about the price gouging and then as attorney general he was doing he's now leaning on this mural to actually have those conversations right now we've heard from her as well what you should do if you see for example price gouging that kind of thing they have a website set up for that you can report that you can report it locally uh but you can also report it to them get a running list and and uh you know depending on the severity of this uh could come knocking on doors but yeah it'll be interesting to see uh the messaging to your point from Governor Jeff Landry all the the unified voices behind him it's interesting to me you know I've been uh in Louisiana for 20 plus years my whole family is from from Louisiana from New Orleans to Jennings Louisiana holds on to its people I me it's just community and generations going back and back for many many years and so for a lot of folks this ain't this is not the first time it ain't going to be the last but it's it's interesting from every little social media site that I'm following this and that I I I am seeing a lot of hey this is my first time hey I'm new to Louisiana hey it's amazing to me how many I am seeing maybe I'm seeing so many because they're out there in front asking questions on social media I had one person asking hey do we do we fill up bathtubs here full of water you know what it makes you feel better Do It um now obviously bat water compan will tell you don't don't be sitting there wasting water where you don't need to but they've got generators ready to go um you know as far as a power loss that kind of thing so that we don't lose our water pressure that kind of thing but filling up bathtubs it's it's a little bit different you know if you get North and you're talking like ice storms snow storms that kind of a thing um but if it makes you feel better because there's only so much that we can control individually right if it makes you feel a little bit better get that stuff going there's a reason folks are going to the stores and getting jugs of water that kind of so if it makes you feel that much better welcome to South Louisiana we'll help you get through it go ahead and do your thing so speaking of the bathtub a bathroom it's a good safe place to stay right in the event of a tornado I know we're not looking at that right now this is just in case uh especially if you have young children this might be a good time to have this conversation with them that the bathroom is going to be a safe place to stay right a place with no windows it's going to be the innermost room in your house how often have we heard from our first our weather team that you want to pick a place that's going to be free and clear of any Windows any innermost part of your whether it's some people have their Pantry right doesn't have any windows or places like that but really just have that conversation you know kids if we get to a situation where we hear a tornado warning come through our phone or our weather app or an emergency warning there's no need to panic we have a plan set in place we know exactly what is going on it's all about having these conversations to make sure the littlest of little ones in our families that they're not scared it's all having this conversation and preparing them to know look Mom and Dad have got this we know exactly what we're doing we did a run through while things are calm just let them know what may happen messaging setting that tone early on my kids set my tone for me now they they they let me know when to Panic it's a good family youve prepared them well is what it is it's never they're fine they're fine they're doing their thing okay so um Eyes On The Ground all over the place from uh the coastal parishes to in Baton Rouge actually our Gabrielle marcurio has been moving around Baton Rouge giving us a look she was at the down at the levy a little bit earlier she was over at uh Baton Rouge metro airport a little bit earlier as well she continues to move around kind of giving us a view of what's going on joining us again now Gabby and checking in with our local officials before for chief TJ Morris talk to me a little bit about how things have been going for you guys this morning so going well you know we're making all our prep preparations preparing for the worst hoping for the best our officers have to take care of their families and their homes and now are coming into work um just getting prepared for what what is going to come and then after the storm any kind of aftermath that you know power outages and extra patrols we have to do because of that as well yeah absolutely absolutely we kind of talked about like you said extra Staffing having people here during and after the storm any areas in particular you were looking to kind of like beef up or make sure that there were extra units out there for yeah so we have basically all hands on deck we're extending our hours for all officers our uniform Control Officers and those officers that are currently don't typically work in a uniform capacity like detective specialized divisions they showed up to work today in uniforms we're going to be putting them to work kind of supplement helping out out there so we can free up those officers to respond to emergency calls and other calls for service um we can use those Detectives to go block roads and respon to flooding or trees down um anything that might come up and then after the fact any electricity that's out in those areas that need extra security extra patrols because of no um electricity will be out there as well okay awesome and we were kind of talking like you said having them uh block off any high water roads things like that are there certain areas that you kind of have extra people strategic in place you know kind of knowing that that might be happening yeah so being here at map we here we also have our own incident command system set up at headquarters but we know we're those barricades are already pre-staged so those areas that are pre um can kind of flood so we put barricades where we can put units where we need to put them as well um just being prepared for any kind of possible scenario absolutely anything else you want to remind people as they're trying to hunker down for this storm just uh stay off the roads whenever possible let our emergency crews be out there the less traffic we have the better and um less emergencies that could happen with the less traffic out there um be prepared if you see high water driving turn around don't try to go through it look for those down power line stay away from them call 311 keep our 911 emergency lines clear and then we're going to be all working together to get through this you know even aftermath the best thing about these kind of things is whenever uh we see the community come together and neighbor helping neighbor and the Baton Rouge Police Department would be there to help as well yeah absolutely Chief TJ Morris thanks so much for your time like you said make sure you guys hunker down stay off of the roads and make sure you're just staying in place have our first alert weather app downloaded and the N9 news app for any other alerts and updates you might need at MF Gabrielle Mario wfb 9 News Gabby Chief mores thank you the messaging is clear be prepared have that plan and stay home so we're talking about the timing on this when might we need to actually be prepared for whatever this storm throws at the Baton Rouge viewing area we actually got the very latest numbers the 10 o'clock update so let's get to Jared Silverman see if we can't figure this out it looks like What official landfall being pushed back even later now yeah it does Matt and Liz thank you so much I'm going to show you that we just got the update for 10: a.m. and it looks like it has slowed the forward progression a little bit we'll get into that in just a second flood watch continues until 7:00 a.m. tomorrow tropical storm warnings are still up north of EBR from EBR down to the South we still have the hurricane warning and again it looks like that's going to stay the case you could start to see some of the heavier bands are moving into the southern part of our viewing area not so much into New Orleans but from Golden Meadow to H over to Morgan City but they lose their punch the farther to the north they move still have the well- defined eyewall and you could see the eyewall right around it getting a little bit more more in the way of convection we're starting to see heavier downpours there and of course those heavier downpours are going to migrate now the million-dollar question throughout the morning has been are we leaning or is the National Hurricane Center leaning more on the graph or on the European right now it looks like they're in the middle but starting to lean a little more on the European that has the later arrival time but even the futurecast graph is starting to show a slightly later arrival time too so now it's looking like it's going to be late afternoon early evening that we finally get it onto the coast meanwhile it's still looks like the graph wants to put all of the worst weather a little bit closer towards the New Orleans area not so much right in the immediate Baton Rouge and then everything starts to clear on out of here so before getting to that updated track let me show you how the models have changed a little bit look at cadry this is at 400 p.m. so the graph model has slowed down a little bit I still think landfall is probably going to be a little bit later than what you're seeing here but at 4 p.m. definitely knocking on the doorstep that's the 80 mph gust now remember because this is the graph model the graph model is going to show that the winds are a lot worse in the New Orleans area and not quite as bad for us in the Baton Rouge area now the reason is they've got the center circulation angling a little bit farther away from us that's what the graph says the Europeans says something a little bit different first let's start with the arrival time of the European the European is closer to 700 p.m. and I'm going to show you the new track which is also closer so right now it looks like the weather service and the Hurricane Center they are leaning a little bit more on this European model which shows Morgan City still Ground Zero still front Center at around 76 mph now notice though on the European they give us a little bit more in the way of brisker stronger winds in the Baton Rouge area they've got it at a 70 mph wind gust between 900 p.m. and 10 p.m. makes sense because they've got the center of circulation just passing through not that far off from the Baton Rouge area but of course it's going to weaken so by the time it passes Us by it's important to note it's not going to be a hurricane anymore it's actually going to be down to Tropical Storm strength with very similar rainfall there that's why we still have that flood risk in the same spot now the severe weather risk that is actually moved a little bit farther to the east as well at a level to so here's the 10: a.m. you see that it's still at 90 mph still at 976 it looks like it's gaining more steam but it's actually for all intents and purposes not so much increasing its strength so watch what happens on this new track you're going to see a couple of things the first thing you're going to see is they've actually removed the number two so now right before it makes landfall they actually have it maintaining as a one so now the thinking is it e either going to remain as a one or it might very briefly just barely cross that threshold it would have to be over 95 miles per hour to get to catto it' be a very low end and now look at this that's Wednesday at 7 p.m. so like I mentioned it looks like the National Hurricane Center is leaning a little bit more towards the European a little bit away from the graph model which for us in Baton Rouge is kind of a good news bad news scenario good news because it hopefully won't be quite as strong and only a and maybe a tropical storm when it passes us the not so good news for Baton Rouge is the European model remember that's the model that's got the center circulation a little bit closer to our neck of the woods so we really start to take a closer look here and it looks like the area of Morgan City is still very close and it should be around a category one at that time and it's going to take off a lot faster beyond that point we've seen these tracks move East and East and East this latest track hasn't really moved that much that tells us at least now they're coming together with a model consensus and now it looks like the track it's not completely set in stone but we are getting a little bit closer to it being that way so it looks like anywhere between around the Morgan City area and cadry and probably even in the H area you guys will have the possibility of getting those hurricane storm those hurricane Forest winds at least maybe an 80 mph wind gust Again by the time it gets to Baton Rouge we're in that 70 to 80 mph gust category and the farther off to the east you go unfortunately in the New Orleans area that's the bad side that's the dirty side of the storm so it looks like the storm surge is still very similar at 5 to 10 feet that's the latest prediction that we have there of course that's more of an issue on the immediate Coastline we're still going to keep our chances in for preparing for a cat one to a cat 2 but again by the time it gets to the Baton Rouge area it should be a little bit less than that heavy rain and flood threat today and tonight the weather continues to deteriorate throughout the day especially as we get into the afternoon so hopefully you've done everything you need to do to prep and now you can just kind of calm down and hunker down hurricane force winds are still going to be possible but the weather improves very very rapidly Thursday morning by Daybreak I think we're good to go and this thing is a thing of the past the other Silver Lining the temperatures they should stay in the upper 70s throughout the day today so even if we do unfortunately lose some power at least we don't have that brutal heat outside then we're going to keep you pumped up to an 80% chance and after midnight we're going to quickly taper that all all the way down to zero close enough that when we get to Thursday we can get rid of the red we can get rid of the First Alert weather day which we've done and we can probably even get rid of that 40% and knock that down a little bit before we start opening the door to nicer weather but unfortunately hotter weather too so again the main thing we'll focus on are the wind speeds the possibility of power outages that we're going to get but Matt and Liz the bottom line here is at the 10: a.m. update we have not seen it intensify and in fact now the track keeps it as a category one so I guess we can call that a a small victory you guys hey we'll take every Victory we can get Jared Silverman thank you you know Jared is one member of our incredible first weather team here the most experienced team in south Louisiana actually in the state of Louisiana here we actually have three meteorologists in the house right now Henry Blakes which you've seen throughout the last couple of hours here Jeff Morrow is also here as well Dr Steve karado will be joined by Sydney Goldberg later on this afternoon as we continue to track hurricane Francine with you throughout the whole day it's comforting right it's it's to know that those guys and gal have us keeping us in the note the very latest on Hurricane Francine you just got the numbers from Jared again we'll keep tracking that for you back in a quick moment almost 10 o'clock