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Zeta is picking up momentum and an even faster movement is expected today
Zeta leaves over 2.5 million customers without power and at least 3 dead after battering Gulf Coast
By Susannah Cullinane and Joe Sutton, CNN
Updated 12:05 PM ET, Thu October 29, 2020
(CNN)At least three people have died and more than 2.5 million customers are without power Thursday morning after former Hurricane Zeta hit the Gulf Coast and rushed inland.
Zeta made landfall in Louisiana as a Category 2 storm Wednesday before weakening to a tropical storm, with sustained winds of 50 mph as of 11 a.m. ET Thursday.
Zeta's fast advance means the system won't lose much energy, CNN meteorologist Michael Guy said. This will allow Zeta to keep tropical storm intensity with strong winds throughout its course to the Atlantic.
As of 11 a.m. ET Thursday, Zeta was about 100 miles northeast of Asheville, North Carolina, according to the National Hurricane Center. The storm was traveling at 48 mph, and the NHC says an even faster northeastward movement is expected later Thursday.
"On the forecast track, the center of Zeta will move across the Mid-Atlantic states this afternoon, and emerge over the western Atlantic by tonight," the NHC said.
Millions without power
Hurricane and storm surge warnings have been discontinued for all of Louisiana and the Mississippi coast, but coastal areas of Alabama have been warned the storm surge threat remains due to remnant winds left in the wake of the hurricane.
At least 32.7 million people from the Gulf Coast toward the Carolinas had been under Tropical Storm warnings earlier Thusday morning. The last time metro Atlanta was under such a warning was October 2018 as Hurricane Michael passed over the region.
As Zeta moved inland across the South, it caused substantial power outages across several states. More than 2 million utility customers were in the dark in Georgia, Louisiana, Alabama, and Mississippi early Thursday, according to PowerOutage.US.
A man walks through heavy wind and rain caused by Zeta in New Orleans Thursday.
One man was killed in Georgia Thursday morning when a large oak tree fell onto a mobile home in Cherokee County, about 40 miles north of Atlanta, according to Captain Jay Baker of the county sheriff's office.
Officials believe the death to be related to Zeta's high winds, Baker told CNN.
"At about 4 a.m., the wind picked up, trees started falling," he said. "The tree was uprooted."
Three other adults and a child were also in the mobile home at the time, Baker said, but they were uninjured.
Louisiana still recovering from earlier storms
The first death attributed to Zeta was reported Wednesday, when a 55-year-old man was electrocuted by a downed power line, the Louisiana governor's office said, citing the Orleans Parish coroner.
Around 500,000 people in Louisiana were without power Thursday morning, including two-thirds of New Orleans residents, according to Christina Stephens, the deputy chief of staff for the governor.
Officials are asking people to stay off the roads due to downed power lines with possible live wires. There were no reports of significant flooding in the city, according to local officials. But there was coastal flooding and some vessels broke loose from barges, damaging bridges.
The governor's office said the damaged bridges would be inspected to determine whether they are passable.
In Mississippi, Biloxi Police Chief John Miller told CNN affiliate WLOX that a person's body was found on the Broadwater Marina, and that the death is considered storm-related.
The cause of death was not available.
Officials in Jefferson and Terrebonne parishes had issued mandatory evacuation orders ahead of the storm for coastal areas and places outside major levees. In New Orleans, voluntary evacuations were called for similar areas.
Louisiana is still recovering from the damage caused by recent storms. About 3,600 evacuees still are displaced weeks after Hurricanes Laura and Delta caused major destruction, according to Louisiana Gov. John Bel Edwards.
Most of the evacuees have been displaced since August from Laura and have been spread among six hotels in New Orleans, the governor's office said.
Edwards said more than 1,500 National Guard members had been activated and more than 5,000 linemen were staged to begin recovery and power restoration efforts Thursday morning.
"It's going to be a rough evening for Louisiana, particular in the southeastern portion. I am confident that we are well prepared for this," Edwards said.
Washington Garden's Apartments, in New Orleans, Louisiana, collapsed from Zeta's winds.
'Significant' damage seen in southwest Alabama
Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey declared a state of emergency Tuesday. On Wednesday, she asked residents to finish storm preparations quickly and warned that even the central part of the state could see tropical storm winds.
The National Weather Service in Mobile, Alabama, said early Thursday on Facebook that it had received reports from local officials of "significant to MAJOR damage" in Clarke County, about 80 miles north of Mobile.
"Structural damage. Ambulance building destroyed. Windows blown in several homes & businesses. Numerous trees on homes & cars. Communications & internet out," it posted.
Before turning its path toward the US coast, Zeta struck the Yucatán Peninsula in Mexico on Monday night as a Category 1 hurricane.
Zeta is the 27th storm of the Atlantic hurricane season, one shy of tying the record for the most storms in a season. There were 28 storms in 2005, including 15 hurricanes.
CNN's Amara Walker contributed to this report.
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