Hurricane Zeta made landfall in Louisiana on Wednesday afternoon, and has since ravaged communities in Mississippi, Alabama, Florida and Georgia throughout the night and Thursday morning.
Those living in various communities along the extended path of the storm have reported battering rains and winds, trees fallen and debris littered throughout their neighborhoods. Millions were without power Thursday. In Louisiana, one person reportedly died due to the tropical storm. Aly Neel, a spokesperson with the Louisiana Department of Health, said the death was disclosed by the coroner for Orleans Parish on Wednesday night. The dead man’s name wasn’t immediately released by the coroner’s office and exact circumstances of the death were not immediately disclosed.
After the storm made landfall Wednesday night, it’s been rapidly affecting families across the Southeast region. Many took to Twitter to report the devastation.
Many expressed their concerns, fears and anxiety about the storm, which was slated to be the worst in Louisiana in more than 20 years, as it began to make headaway.
Those hit hardest near New Orleans shared some images from the storm, while many along the path in Georgia and Alabama showed the impact of torrential rain and wind.
Over the past couple decades, meteorologists have been increasingly worried about storms that just blow up in strength, like Zeta. They created an official threshold for this dangerous powering up — a storm gaining 35 mph (56 kph) in wind speed in just 24 hours.
Earlier this year Hannah, Laura, Sally, Teddy, Gamma and Delta all rapidly intensified. An eighth storm, Marco, just missed the mark. Laura and Delta tied or set records for rapid intensification. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration climate and hurricane scientist Jim Kossin studied the effect and found storms now are more likely to rapidly intensify than they did in the 1980s and “a lot of that has to do with human-caused climate change.”
People in the storm’s path in other states also tweeted prayers and best wishes.
Some expressed frustration that the presidential campaigning continued Wednesday as the storm approached.
Dozens of school systems in Georgia called off school Thursday in light of the power outages and stormy conditions.
Among districts that are calling off in-person classes are the 180,000-student Gwinnett County district and the 110,000-student Cobb County district, both in the northern suburbs of Atlanta.
“This decision was made in keeping with our commitment to student and staff safety, with particular concern for our youngest bus riders,” the Cobb district said in a statement.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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