Sally has developed into a Hurricane ahead of schedule after rapidly strengthening this morning. Forecasts continue to push the anticipated landfall more eastward, now appearing more likely to land somewhere along the Mississippi coast, but National Weather Service forecaster Christopher Bannon says the strengthening means the eastern edges of the state’s most southeastern parishes will get some bad weather.
The forecast calls for the center of the storm to stay east of New Orleans, but it’s not good that the storm is moving slowly… The area is under a flash flood watch until Thursday morning. New Orleans Mayor LaToya Cantrell says all 99 of their drainage pumps are ready to respond and can handle up to one inch of rain per hour…
The damage to the timber industry from Hurricane Laura is an estimated one-point-one billion dollars. That’s according to Louisiana Forestry Association executive director Buck Vandersteen who says Laura impacted 770-thousand acres of forest in 22 parishes, with Vernon Parish suffering the most losses…
Cut 9 (12) “…million”
Vandersteen says Laura will definitely have a long-term impact on the state’s forestry industry.
There’s some good economic development news to report. California-based manufacturer Westfield Fluid Controls plans to build a five-million-dollar facility in Lafayette. Economic Development Secretary Don Pierson says the facility will be located in the Northpark Technology Center and employ 70 workers…
Cut 7 (10) “region.”