Tropical Storm Marco was swirling over the Gulf of Mexico early on Sunday, heading for a possible hit on the Louisiana coast as a hurricane, while Tropical Storm Laura knocked utilities out as it battered Hispaniola, following a track forecast to take it to the same part of the US coast – also as a hurricane. It would be the first time two hurricanes have appeared in the Gulf of Mexico simultaneously, according to records dating to at least 1900, said Colorado State University hurricane researcher Phil Klotzbach. The NHC said the storms were not expected to interact as the region faces an unusually active hurricane season.“We are in unprecedented times,” the Mississippi governor, Tate Reeves, said on Saturday as he declared a state of emergency.“We are dealing with not only two potential storms in the next few hours, we are also dealing with Covid-19.”A hurricane watch was issued for the New Orleans metro area, which Hurricane Katrina pummeled in August 2005. The projected tracks from the US National Hurricane Center (NHC) pointed to both storms being in the Gulf on Monday, with Marco hitting Louisiana around midday and Laura making landfall in the same general area on Wednesday. But there was still much uncertainty. It’s entirely possible that the volatile shifts seen in the models could continue, the NHC said. Laura was centered about 95 miles east of Port-au-Prince, Haiti, with maximum sustained winds of 45mph. It was moving west-north-west at 18mph. Crews armed with megaphones in the Dominican capital of Santo Domingo urged residents in flood-prone areas to evacuate.

All data is taken from the source: https://www.theguardian.com/
Article Link: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/aug/23/marco-laura-us-coast-hurricanes-forecast-tropical-storms-louisiana-mississippi

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