Team Coverage: Tracking Tropical Storm Francine nearing southeast Louisiana. Here's the latest

Francine is nearing Louisiana likely bringing strong winds and storm surges with it today. Many prepared with some fishermen moving their boats to safe harbor. The storm is currently off the Texas coast and this is what it looked like in Brownsville earlier today as high water and rains caused some problems. Good evening. And thanks for watching. I'm Katie Moore. Governor Jeff Landry has declared a state of emergency. Some areas are under mandatory evacuation orders and Francine's track has shifted just a bit closer to us with this latest update from the National Hurricane Center. So let's get right over to chief meteorologist Chris Franklin with the very latest that would be the case is we did see a little shift back to the east from the models, but when the hurricane center reissued their track for 10 o'clock, they really didn't make any changes, which is good. They're kind of keeping it steady as of right now. One thing that has been going in our favor is that the storm has not been performing as the models had indicated. They thought it would already be a hurricane. This is at this point and possibly a path toward rapid intensification or at least a faster intensification through the night and into tomorrow. But dry air has played a big role in stopping that from happening. You can see the lack of those brighter cloud tops. A new little area thunderstorms developing on the southern end of the center. And there's a huge batch of storms that are well down to the south of the Louisiana coast. Not really an association, not in association with the core of the storm. So the core of the storm remains the struggle with this drier air kind of wrapping around it. And in fact, some of the models that had been hit at the possibility of rapid intensification are all starting to back off. Now, with that said hurricane center has not really changed your thinking. They do believe it will become a category two, although they fully admit that is at the high end of the forecast models as a lot, keep us at a one. What they do point out though is that it could make landfall as a tube. But if it remains a little bit more unorganized as it moves in a more hostile environment near the Louisiana coast, it would immediately start weakening or if nothing else immediately start weakening once it does make landfall, pushing up past Lafayette and then continuing on northward. The good news for us is it still doesn't really change the impacts that we are anticipating rainfall. Yes, but the strong gusty winds primarily on Wednesday and the coastal flooding, our real only concerns at this point, as I mentioned, there was a definite little shift in the models. However, the hurricane center really not changing their forecast to track all that much. They basically kept it about the same. And uh when you look at the model consensus, it's about right in the middle of the forecast from the hurricane center. So about in agreement with the models at this hour and as it does start to make a little bit more of a motion toward the northeast, likely by tomorrow morning, I think that final land uh uh uh land falling mark will be kind of locked in stone. As we go through the day tomorrow, we'll talk more about the models and impacts to us and we will likely impact the storm in just a few minutes. Our bayous are full, the ground is saturated, so we're gonna continue pumping down. Uh We pumped to what we call a pre storm level. A mandatory evacuation has been issued for some including those in zone, one of Terrebonne Parish residents, there should be out by six Wednesday morning. That's also when a shelter will open at the municipal auditorium. Today. Many gathered sandbags and flood gates were closed. A mandatory evacuation also issued for those outside the levee protection system in Jefferson Parish. And Lafitte's mayor is urging everyone to heed warnings. Predictions for the National Hurricane Center is um is alarming. Right. They're, they're predicting it's anywhere between 3 to 7 ft for us. Um, now it makes matters worse because right now the tide is a foot higher than normal because of that, that, uh, other storm that sat over us for a while. So we're in a vulnerable spot in Grand Isle. Dozens of vehicles were on the road today heading to higher ground and the Multiplex Center has opened to anyone in need of shelter. Just make sure you bring your own supplies. Lily Cummings has more. Now on how parish officials are hoping to keep you safe through the storm. People across the metro fueled up Monday ahead of tropical storm Francine getting ready for the gas line at the Harvey Sam's club wrapped around the parking lot and families were stocking up on hurricane snacks. We're picking up some water, we have some crackers, some sausage chips and stuff for the kids. These shoppers are doing exactly what Jefferson Parish is asking residents to do be prepared. This is not going to be a major storm but it's going to be a heavy rain and it's going to be a wind event. So take your time this evening and tomorrow to hurricane your proof as much as possible, hurricane your home as much as possible. Make sure you got a full tank of gas when you start that. It's a reasonable expectation that we're going to lose power for Wednesday and probably even into Thursday depending on the level of damage. Parish President Cynthia Li Shang signed an emergency declaration and issued a mandatory evacuation for residents outside the levee protection system. So we're talking about Grand Isle Lafitte, Barataria, cramp, cramp point, lower Lafitte due to the life threatening storm surge that we're expecting. With this storm event. The parish is opening the Tarry Town playground Tuesday afternoon for those in need of shelter. They're encouraging all others to shelter in place. Starting Tuesday night, we just want to be prepared to be inside with some kids. So make your groceries and get your gas. Now in Jefferson parish, Lily Cummings Wwl Louisiana parish spent today closing all the L gates. Officials say those can protect from a storm surge of up to 18 ft. So they're more concerned about high winds, especially with so many still rebuilding from hurricane IDA anticipating opening a shelter tomorrow evening. Uh mainly because we still have a lot of families in temporary housing due to, you know, in the fema units or the state campers and they have to get out due to their agreements with those two entities. So we're going to shelter those people, of course, uh as well as calling a voluntary evacuation for areas south of the Larose or the, the the Golden Meal floodgate. Typical areas that we have trouble with. There are 12 sandbag locations in the parish, those are cell filled. So make sure you bring your own shovel and a number of schools are closing because of this starting tomorrow with those in Grand Isle and Lafitte. All other Jefferson parish public schools will be closed Wednesday and Thursday. Those same days public schools in Orleans, Lafoe, Terreon, Saint Charles and Saint John will all also close. You can see a full list of closures on our website WW ltv.com. We will have more on Francine coming up including details on that state of emergency issued earlier today. In the meantime, you can always find the latest on our website, our free smartphone app and our social media pages.