Hurricane Zeta slammed eastern Louisiana yesterday with sustained 110 mph winds and a storm surge of at least eight feet on a path that took its eye directly over New Orleans. The fifth named storm to hit Louisiana this year, Zeta intensified rapidly into a strong Category 2 hurricane just before making landfall — a phenomenon happening more frequently as climate change heats sea surface temperatures. About 2.4 million people across Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama were without electricity early Thursday, according to Bloomberg. One person was killed after contacting a downed powerline, officials said, and local outlets reported widespread and dramatic wind damage. The rapidly moving storm continued moving northeast Thursday. (Washington Post $, New York Times $, Bloomberg $, AP, Weather Channel, NOLA.com, Fox 8 Live; Climate Signals background: Hurricanes, 2020 Atlantic hurricane season)
