Hurricane Zeta makes landfall in Louisiana as a Category 2 storm

RALEIGH, N.C. — Hurricane Zeta made landfall along the Louisiana coast as a Category 2 storm on Wednesday afternoon.

The National Hurricane Center (NHC) announced at 4 p.m. that the storm made landfall near Cocodrie, Louisiana bringing “hurricane conditions and life-threatening storm surges” along the Louisiana and Mississippi coasts.

As of 4 p.m., the storm has maximum sustained winds of 110 miles per hour and is moving north-northeast at 24 miles per hour, according to the NHC.

After it reaches the U.S., Zeta is forecast to track northeast toward Georgia and the Carolinas.

Zeta made landfall as a Category 1 Hurricane on Monday night just north of Tulum, an ancient Mayan city located along Mexico’s Yucatán Peninsula.

Tuesday, Zeta started tracking toward Louisiana.

Louisiana has felt the brunt of the record-setting 2020 hurricane season. So far, four named storms–Cristobal, Delta, Laura, and Marco–have made landfall in the state.

Louisiana Gov. John Bel Edwards urged his state’s citizens to monitor the storm, and the state activated its Crisis Action Team.

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Zeta broke the record for the earliest storm of its name, which was set on Nov. 29, 2005.

This year’s season has so many storms that the hurricane center has turned to the Greek alphabet after running out of official names. Zeta is the furthest into the Greek alphabet the Atlantic season has gone; it happened once before in 2005).