Cat 2 Hurricane Delta makes landfall on Mexico's Yucatán Peninsula with 110 mph winds en route to Louisiana

RALEIGH, N.C. (WTVD) — Hurricane Delta made landfall Wednesday morning along the coast of northeastern Mexico near Puerto Morelos as a Category 2 storm.

Around 7 a.m., the National Hurricane Center reported that Delta hit with sustained winds of around 110 mph; the system is moving northwest at 17 mph. Overnight, Delta weakened from a Category 4 storm but still stayed extremely powerful.

Delta was a Category 4 storm as recently as Tuesday night. It became a Category 3 overnight before making landfall as a Category 2.

Once it leaves Mexico, it’s expected to regain Category 4 status in the warm water of the Gulf of Mexico. It looks like it will make landfall in the United States around Friday, bringing heavy rainfall across the southeastern United States.

If that happens, Delta would be the first-ever hurricane named after a Greek letter to strike the U.S. mainland. The cone of uncertainty puts Delta making landfall somewhere in Louisiana.

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The Associated Press contributed to this story.