strong category 3. not much of a different between the two. the hurricane center has it a 130-mile-per-hour landfall. if you re going to have 130-mile-an-hour winds, that s tornadic-type winds. extreme wind damage. then storm will weaken as it heads north. even if baton rouge we could have significant tree damage and power outages. new orleans, you re maybe just far enough away to not have significant wind damage from this storm. the landfall is west of grand isle. it could be as far west as morgan city or as far east as grand isle. but the storm surge is pretty much set in stone. along with it, all the heavy rain with this storm. that area of pink is of greatest concern. that s where emergency management told people if you re not protected by a levee, get out. even areas outside of new orleans, if you re not protected by the federal levee system, you
orange and yellow, possibilities of power outages. the big concern with this is catastrophic winds that will be in excess of 110 miles per hour. if we have a category 4 with 130-mile-per-hour sustained winds, those wind gusts to be 145, 150, 155. we always look at the computer models and these will change now that more data is coming in. the hurricane hunters have taken off about 4:30. they are getting ready to enter the center of ida so we ll get a lot more information in the next couple of hours. but this is the american model. we like to compare it to the european. this is at 1:00 p.m. local time and we have our landfall. it looks pretty close to grand isle. this one is a little further offshore which means the timing is a little slower with. this but each and every change, pamela, and where that center is could change that track as mentioned. earlier this morning it was 50 miles from new orleans. if it continues that movement and that trend to the east, we could see this move close
port arthur, east through southwestern louisiana. this all comes just a couple of days before the 15th anniversary of hurricane katrina, which obviously hit farther east from here and into mississippi, but that was a cat 3. this is going to be a cat 4. the only cat 4 potentially in history to hit this part of southwestern louisiana. now, i want to take you into what we are looking at, right? so, this is the lake behind me. the hurricane is about 120 miles to the southeast. this is such susceptible land. a very shallow deck that leads up to all of these homes right here along the gulf. 10 to 20 feet, that s going to overtake these homes. and that s why a satellite image like the one you see here is really frightening. we are just hours from the winds starting to pick up in intensity. and after midnight, we should see landfall. when we talk about wind gusts, 50, you say, okay, then you go to 105 here in port arthur, look at lake charles at 4:00 a.m., 127 miles per hour, even through 7:00
130-mile-per-hour winds. that s a category 4 hurricane in the atlantic. down to 125. splitting hairs here. but it is down the a cat 3, if we can say down. there it is with a well-defined eye as it continues to make a beeline for tokyo. again, this is not next week. this is today, sunday night into monday for them here in tokyo. 12 hours, 105-mile-per-hour winds. and then it races onto the northeast rather quickly. before the next 12 to 18 hours, i think it will be quite something, an event here for tokyo. watch the storms it continues to move in the peninsula, go further either and right over tokyo. watch the winds here. generally 100 to 107 to 110-mile-per-hour wind gusts. that would be equivalent to 170 kilometers per hour. a huge deal here. you see the bays here. that is vulnerable for flooding. storm surge possible there as well. and of course torrential downpours as the rain will
exact same location it has been for the last six to 12 hours. just one band after another keeps going through the asame areas and doing more and more damage. just frightful. the pictures we see out of there will be extraordinary. so what does this all mean for florida? the weaker the storm the better, of course. the hurricane center has that already played into its forecast. down to 130-mile-per-hour winds by 2:00 a.m. and tomorrow morning. you notice it doesn t weaken that much more. it only drops slightly over the next 48 hours. it s safely off the coast. the peak of the winds, the high numbers will be over the water. that s good. we re on the periphery of the eastern half of the storm. that means gusty winds. that means high surf. it means beach erosion. it also can mean storm surge as the winds will pile the water up in the coastal areas. that right now is our greatest threat that we have to the east