LIVE COVERAGE | Tracking Francine: Wednesday, Sept. 11

to get ready for Hurricane Francy and just it's the timing we're working on it's the exact track we're working on which is why the storm team's all over it so let's check in with meteorologist Jared Silverman for the latest track coming down from the National Hurricane Center and Jared any major difference here from 400 a.m. luckily we haven't seen any intensification so it was 90 mes per hour before now it's at 90 right now I knew something looked different when I saw you guys sitting down I was like yeah it makes me a little nervous every so often yeah well they gave you guys chairs we don't we don't have a chair over here the rest of on the mo yeah Absol absolutely on the Move thank you so much guys and yeah we are looking at radar because we're starting to see this storm system really encroach on our area and in doing so we're seeing the early parts of those outer bands move through now luckily on our live local radar you can see they're not that taxing they're not that bad to this point in fact knocking on the door of Baton Rouge but even looking down to the South even looking down to the coast nothing strong nothing severe not yet anyway but obviously the rain will be moving at a higher heavier clip as it continues to press from the south to the north you could still see that eyewall uh it has actually kind of tightened up a little bit in doing so sometimes that tighter circulation allows the storm to rotate around faster the wind start to pick up they did so they're at 90 M hour we're looking at the graph model and as I've been saying throughout the morning the graph model really has been the ring leader amongst all the models that wanted to show this thing and gravitate really a lot closer to the New Orleans area and the National Hurricane Center they've been following suit because throughout the past few days they have moved that track a little bit more in that direction so I should point out that the graph is the faster model the European is probably about 3 or 4 hours slower than this I say that because you're looking at 1 p.m. Wednesday and that's representing about the time the graph thinks this is going to come close to making landfall however the European doesn't take it close to landfall until I would say 5:00 p.m. maybe even a little bit later going into the early evening hours but look at this clearly it wants to take all the strong and severe weather and really gravitate around the New Orleans area down to H back up to reserve and it shows Baton Rouge not getting hit quite as hard but this is going to be a very close call a very near miss and I think that the whole the center circulation is going to end up passing just in between Baton Rouge and New Orleans kind of splitting the difference not that dissimilar from that path that Ida took only this time around we're not talking about a major hurricane thankfully so what are we talking about as far as the winds are concerned keep your eye on Morgan City again that could end up being Ground Zero that really hasn't changed the models have been pretty consistent to bring it in around there so this is at 700 p.m. at 700 p.m. remember I said the European is a little bit slower so I think what we're going to end up seeing is a landfall in the mid part of the afternoon 3 or 4 that's going to be in between these two models nevertheless you see Morgan City getting a gust right there of 73 miles per hour now you shift your focus up to Baton Rouge that's a 72 m per hour wind gust and then we start to see those wind gusts really shift to the Northeast now I will say this the one thing that all of the models have agreed upon and they're very consistent with is how quickly this storm gets out of here and that's good we don't want it to sit and spin we want to get rid of it and both the models the graph and the European even the GFS they have it getting out of our viewing area as soon as midnight so well before the pre-dawn hours so Thursday is going to be looking significantly better the winds go down drier air moves in and hopefully we can make these numbers a little bit better but right now even though we've condensed this area of heavy rain notice how it's not so much in the last area but now it's really in between New Orleans and Baton Rouge I'm looking at a general 4 to 7 in there that's the reason why we still have the area in red that indicates the level three moderate for excessive rainfall AKA flooding now here might be some good news remember we talked about the difference between being on the good side and the not so good side the dirty side the east side we know that's going to be in between Hammond and New Orleans so at least now in the Baton Rouge area as far as the possibility of severe weather let's just really narrow this down what we're really talking about is is a toric threat when you get that rotation right that's down to a level one for Baton Rouge that's good news lafayette's been taken out of it completely they're not even under a hurricane warning that's how much this thing has shifted but again the farther east towards New Orleans you go I wouldn't be surprised if later today this afternoon and Wednesday night could be a couple of tornado watches and warnings triggered over there hopefully staying to the east of our area so you can see it is expected to become briefly a category 2 it'll be a low-end category 2 with Max sustained wind right around 100 mph it's at 90 right now 90 is still a cat one in case you are wondering still looks like it makes its way towards Morgan City now when you look at this track this track might make you a little nervous in the Baton Rouge area because look it looks like it's going to skew and pass a little bit closer to Baton Rouge again the one good thing though we should be on the better side with a little bit less in the way of severe weather but needless to say we could see winds getting up around hurricane Force so we need to be ready for that the immediate Coast needs to be ready for this the 5 to 10 foot storm surge which by the way Peaks out not only from South Central Coast but then going out a little bit closer towards the New Orleans area but again that's more of a threat to the immediate Coastline the high temperature for today 80° I think this really could be the Silver Lining here if we keep the temperatures in the 70s all day and folks start to lose their power at least we're not going to be dealing with that brutal heat uh that we dealt with so often during the summertime so we're going to keep more eyes on this details on that and of course we've got our eyes to the roads and Johnny A's got his roads eyes on the roads and traffic as well he certainly does we're going to be checking in with him the good thing about the roads right now Liz are the I think most folks have kind of paid attention and there's not a lot going on out there a lot of cancellations and so but Johnny's just going to make sure everything is good to go we were just looking at the storm track and and one thing that to Jared's point that hasn't changed a lot is that Morgan City perhaps looks like it's going to be this the spot where it first makes that impact that's why we safely sent our Live Crew out there this morning Matt vas with our photographer Brandon Shackleford keeping an eye on things as we've kind of seen the rain and wind pick up just a little bit in Matt shot we want to check back in with him here at 709 and Matt you've been live with the city officials the Morgan City police chief there looks like Daybreak how's it looking now yeah I mean we've been standing here at the seaw wall since about 5:00 a.m. if you've been hanging out with us for that long for consistency purposes if you look over the Berwick Bay right now you get the Highway 90 bridge over to my right shoulder the reason for us staying here is just to show you kind of what it's looking like right now and you can see as the sun's coming up the wind's starting to real pick up a little bit you know the rain is coming down a lot heavier so that's kind of the update but now we do have some more officials with us here Mr uh the the fire chief here with us Alvin cochr with us thank you so much for taking the time out of out of your morning here it seems like the time that you join us is when it's really starting to get worse the the mayor and the police chief had it a little bit better but um from from a fire department perspective what are you guys going to be doing actively you know moments leading up to when this thing's really supposed to hit as well as you know during the hurricane itself well we'll mostly be concerned with the electrical wires that that'll be down we probably use electric with the trees and stuff I'm sure we'll have we'll be out doing that it's a safety deal to keep people away from the till till the electric Department can get on the scene the electric department will go a certain amount of time until they wind gets a certain think 35 miles they will't shut the power off or shut down the um the response um we most need to stand by and keep people away from the electric water till they can be um stabilized fixed and after a while and when they shut it down then but I'm mostly we also run medical calls up to a certain point we'll run medical calls if somebody has any medical emergencies or something like and fires in case we do have a fire so obviously we got to keep people in the fire department safe too that makes sense there is going to be that curfew from 11:00 a.m. starting just a couple of uh of hours from now but if anything were to happen while people are at home like you said there's going to be a point where we're not going to be sending people out there right they can reach a certain point where we just we can't respond for the for the safety of our person and if you have a fire you can't fight it in that kind of wind anyhow uh e a medical emergency or something like a heart attack we do our best to get to you but then there comes a time when you when you got so much debris if it gets that bad uh that you'll have so much debris around it you won't be able to respond and that's tell everybody if you in doubt leave if you if you don't get out in this thing whatever you do once it once it starts stay L down don't get out in the weather in the wind electrical lines will be everywhere and you don't know what's hot you don't know what's been killed or what so just to keep you know keep away from you see a line Don't Go Near it stay away from it now Alvin uh anything at home that people can be doing to stay alert of this you know you mentioned that people are going to be home because of the curfew but I wonder once power goes out I mean what are people going to be doing at home to ride this thing out well a lot of people have generators uh if you have a generator portable generator don't run it in the house don't run it in the garage make sure it's about 10 to 15 ft away from your house and with the wind blowing away from you not not from a generator to you if you have portable I mean if you have a stationary generator make sure the wind is C blow in the right direction if you run out of fuel in your generator if it's portable generator do not fill it up while it's hot let it cool down and then fill it up if you have to we know how long this thing is going to last what to say not going to be that long but you never know but don't pour gasoline on the generator while it's hot cuz we've had accidents like that before and if you have to have candles make sure it's in a stable something that's that's not nonflammable don't put it in a paper plate or something like that we've seen that happen and used to would have major fires after the hurricane because people would come back in and like candles and and then you know it would led to one disaster couple of good tips here from uh Alvin cochr the the fire chief over here at Morgan City thank you so much Alvin will join us in the next half hour as well for some more updates kind of as we learn more as we continue to ride this thing out but there's no secret uh it's starting to pick up a little bit I think we might not have this umbrella with us um if I were to have it you know at that 7 hit because it might fly away so uh we'll try to stay safe over here stay dry the best we can and continue to provide updates here from Morgan City back to you guys over in Baton Rouge Matt thank you you can hear the rain coming down there a significant difference in the last 30 minutes to an hour that we've checked in with him here but you can see folks there in Morgan City taking it seriously you're not seeing a lot of uh a looky lose people trying to go out and see what's going on like we did yesterday so good to hear that people are heating caution how many times we were just talking you and I earlier about the fact that uh we were saying you were down in Morgan City and so that's a this is to that point this is a spot this is a community this is a people who've been through this a number of times before they know exactly what to do they're not going to get out there and be that look L they're going to board up some stuff if they need to they're going to pay attention that the fire chief a few rodeos under that belt buckle of his he's saying all the right things and now it's up to us to do the right things that's it so let's he that warning here Johnny is has been tracking all the traffic cameras this morning and Johnny people are listening to our state leaders largely staying off the roads but you've got your eyes on all the dod cameras across the state what are you seeing here at 7:00 starting to rain a little down in the H area of course in Morgan City we got some cameras down in h this is our first little issue of the morning and it's not really an issue just a driver pulled off to the right shoulder of the interstate on i12 right before the 1012 well off and out of travel Lanes but that doesn't really matter because there's not a lot of travel going on and that's good at 714 because I think the weather is going to be uh just as uh good as it is right now this is the best it's going to be all day so there you go it's going to go downhill from there and we've been talking about our baton Ridge metro airport flights the flights are definitely affected they will be affected out of Armstrong International uh the Charlotte flight on American at 7:00 got off a couple of minutes earlier they pushed back at 658 uh the Washington Houston and Atlanta flights are on time and then we start the cancellations at 10:38 that uh American to D Dallas will be cancelled the the Delta flights after uh later this morning are still on we've got the Atlanta flight at 10:20 uh then the next Atlanta flight after 12:00 noon is still scheduled to depart on time but guys I think that's going to be canceled as well don't don't forget ferry boats will be out of service starting at 11:00 and the The Pedestrian Ferry is already shut down matt Liz that makes sense Johnny that does abundance of caution I mean we' we've seen where you know Jared's been talking about the timing on wind impacts rain impacts into the Baton Rouge area so it may be you know hours later than those flights but there's no need to risk any of that no that's why we'll keep our eyes on all of that for you more of our coverage will come back right after the break e W9 news tracking hurricane Francine we we just need to make sure the TM the tmps know thank you what is she talking about is I can do this weather hit right here and then Henry do minute 31 that's after that in a block or two wb9 news tracking hurricane Francine a you can't just sit in your chair e e wb9 news tracking hurricane Francine here at just before 720 obviously continuing coverage for you as we do exactly that tracking hurricane Francine all about the timing uh as we sit here in Baton Rouge not feeling near any impact right now radar is not showing a whole lot in Baton Rouge but making sure we have eyes on the ground that's it and all about making sure you are prepared so we want to check in with Gabrielle and Mario she is live in Baton Rouge along the levy I believe getting ready for it and Gabby you were actually at the mosa press conference on Monday and Tuesday listening to how our local leaders are getting ready what have you heard and how are they preparing while it's calm hey guys yeah good morning we are actually downtown by the levy we're on the parking lot of the Bell Baton Rouge hope you like my uh hurricane casual fit against popular belief though it's actually not raining yet so this is all prep work that's exactly what they were talking about at MP the other day when I was there prepping now all your prep work should be done by now storm is only a couple hours away from making landfall so pretty much everything should be done I'm sure you've seen us out there checking in with you all all week gas groceries all the good things but there are a few things that you continue to prep this morning make sure you get those extra uh batteries ready for any flashlights things like that when the power goes out give a little extra charge to all your devices so you can stay tuned in with us here and get all those alerts that you might need and I know you might have forgotten it but bring in everything from your patios your outdoor spaces so that way they don't become projectiles and they can stay safely inside that's mainly what the uh leaders at mup were telling me on Monday the time to get prepared was a few days to go a few days ago now the time is for you to figure out where you're going to be during the storm when the storm hits stay hunkered down stay off the roads stay where you're supposed to be to be sheltered the whole time leave the roads clear for any First Responders or line workers to get where they need to go to make sure that everything can kind of be safe after the storm passes through you can get your power back and you can get back on the road safely Gabby um you know the advice that you heard there at map is that the advice they're repeating today stay where you are if you don't have to get out don't get out there curious look it's a short drive from the station to downtown but are you seeing folks paying attention to this are you seeing anybody out there right now yeah we've seen a couple stragglers some people looking around we actually just had a train come through so if you hear any noise from that that's what that is not the r Wind and Rain just yet there's a couple people out here but we're mainly seeing Patrol units Baton Rouge Police the Constable so all of those things like we heard on Monday for them saying they're having extra Staffing extra units out here making sure to keep people safe uh the transportation drainage director Fred Rayford also told me that they were giving extra barricades to those units who are going to be out on the roads in case of high flood water situations later on you heard Jared say we're going to get a few inches of rain later on obviously prone to flooding in a few areas so giving them barricades to block off the roads as you guys know you shouldn't be out on the roads during that time anyways but if you are don't drive through those high water situations so yeah not anyone out here thankfully it seems like everyone's already at home hunkering down like they should be really only some First Responders out here so far this morning already on patrol Gabby thank you we'll check in with you live throughout our live coverage so let's get you to nine reports here this is going to be a great asset right you've heard us talk about it all the time send in your photos when it's safe to do so well that's going to be the case of this storm too while we are here we have Crews everywhere as you can see from Morgan cated at Baton Rouge throughout our viewing area but you at home if you can snap a photo outside today as we anticipate Francine making that landfall uh please send that into to us you're going to be our eyes and ears on the ground to Showcase what's going on and that's going to be really helpful for maybe viewers who live north of our viewing area who may not be in that direct line of fire here you can help figure out and show okay what's going on maybe in the southernmost part of our viewing area again help us tell that story you know a lot of times Liz when when these kinds of things roll in and roll ashore here uh the first inkling of something wrong in a spot even before a first responder may know about it is obviously the FKS who are living in that particular community that neighborhood they send in the photo maybe they can't make a phone they send in a photo and all of a sudden that information gets um learned about disseminated and so yeah you're not just sharing your story you may be um helping actually create something positive in that particular part of the world so if you can to Liz's point when it's safe to do so send in the video the picture send in your stories so right now we want to remind you here nobody is under an evacuation a mandatory evacuation order but we are keeping an eye on things like shelters and evacuation routes DOD actually shared this really helpful map of the state here you see the arrows well these are evacuation routes in the case that they are called for again there are no mandatory evacuations right now there are some voluntary in the southern most parts of our region we're talking about the coastal parishes here but DOD to monitoring this they've also shared this again on their Facebook page it's waiting for you if you'd like to take a look at it maybe have a conversation with your family while you're watching our coverage today and staying safe good idea just to stay informed together you know you see there lot it starts along the the 10 12 Corridor right that's where you got folks south of us where you have where they're a bit more inclined uh to evacuate they know the roads to take be careful out there some of those may actually be taken on water as this thing moves in but yeah to Liz's point no mandatory evacuations in our viewing area stay uh safe stay where you are right now we love to see when a plan comes together right and that plan's being executed we want to remind you here that there are a lot of places universities in fact we're going to touch on some of that coming up in in our coverage this morning we want to send you to break but stay with us answering some more of your questions talking about that all important forecast as well this mountain it has its own way of sorting out who is worthy million dollars shared by the few who make it to the top here is strategy going in blood do you want to get the knife out of my back sweat no one is safe we can steal someone's money by voting someone out oh my God I'll be the first one to push you off that mountain the summit special sneak peek of the premere episode September 29th on CBS and streaming on Paramount plus honey I'll be home by 5:30 oh and the AC's broken can you have someone to already called 1 hour thanks Brandon come on you're going to make me late sorry Mom you know what to do let's go sorry my meeting ran late you know what to do hey I've got a late CH too I haven't had to use it [Music] yet a factory authorized Carrier dealer carrier turn to The Experts without my good feat I would not be able to do this and remember I'm in my [Music] 60s with FanDuel a 3we free trial of NFL Sunday Ticket from YouTube TV means more hunches no new customers bet $5 get 200 in bonus bets plus every customer gets a 3we free trial of NFL Sunday Ticket from YouTube TV only from FanDuel America's number one sports book welcome to Williamsburg Senior Living Community at Williamsburg families are supported and the assisted daily care of their senior family members Williamsburg is where residents receive Chef prepared gourmet meals 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cheap wb9 news tracking hurricane Francine exactly what we're going to be doing for you all morning already all morning long for you all the rest of the day as well as we figure out where Francine is going to be going it's all about the forecast the track to come that's it and Jared Silverman's been watching that track as it came out the new one from the National Hurricane Center at 7 o' and Jared as we kind of prepare for this here watching for Francine to make landfall we're getting some questions here about rain amounts a lot of people asking about how this compares to Ida maybe for folks especially uh in Livingston Parish do you know how they would compare tentatively yeah it is going to be a similar motion the good news about that Liz though we're not dealing with quite the Beast of a storm that we remember what we had from that of course that was a lot worse when we had Ida because that was a cat 4 and it actually teetered on the category of five this one around this time around that looks like it's going to actually not you the case if we could can we take Max one please if you can hear me in the control room Max one let's switch that over please over to our uh over to our sky cam we'll get there momentarily and again what we are going to see is uh the weather conditions start to deteriorate a little bit later on in the morning in the meantime what we're going to be dealing with is just kind of the preamble to the storm where a couple of showers start to roll in slowly but surely those showers should be in here I would say by mid morning if not a little bit sooner than that and here might be the underl in Silver Lining here the 76° that we see now temperatures they're not really going to heat up today so if and when power outages start happening at least the one thing we're not going to be dealing with the brutal summertime heat here's that rain shield that I was just talking about knocking on the door of Baton Rouge but nothing that you see right now is overly threatening it's definitely not dangerous or anything like that couple of heavier downpours coming in the generet down to Morgan City and it still looks like Morgan City could end up being very close to Ground Zero when all is said and done there's the center circulation right over there formed about a day ago or so and it was at 75 mph that was last night but then overnight while we were sleeping it actually picked up some speed and some strength now getting up around 90 mes hour by the way that still makes it a category one really the graph has been the Bell leader and kind of the ring leader to getting all these storms to shift and move the track a little bit more towards the New Orleans area so you're going to see it's a little bit faster the graph has landfall near Morgan City Early part of the afternoon the European which I'm going to show you in a second is actually a little bit slower but the placement is very similar so we were getting questions from folks about how this Compares with Ida we're not going to see quite as much in the way of rain and wind but remember with Ida that shift in the track it kept moving East and when all was said and done in Ida it moved in between Baton Rouge and New Orleans and again I think that's what's going to happen here it'll move in between Baton rou and New Orleans that puts New Orleans on the dirty side the east side of the storm the storm that you don't want to be on will be maybe hopefully on the more gentler side but as I mentioned one of the things that every computer model has agreed on is how quickly this gets out of here so we're talking about the rain let's talk a little bit about the winds now as I mentioned this is the European model you're going to notice this one's a little bit later lags behind it's a little bit slower this is 3:30 in the afternoon and it still has it out to see by the way the National Hurricane Center they agree with that so it doesn't look like the European has landfall until very late in the afternoon early this evening this is 7:00 p.m. get a look at Morgan City still looks like it's going to be where all the fireworks go off they've got a 76 mph wind gust there at that time track it up to the Baton Rouge area and we could be seeing between 70 and 80 mph wind gust this is this evening and then as we keep moving we get to the midnight hour and now it starts to lift on out of here see that's what I was talking about that's what all the models seem to agree on that very shortly after midnight this thing not only flies out of here it screams out of here in a really big hurry what we're hoping is that's going to help us to cut into these rainfall numbers a little bit better but we still have that 4 to 7 in swath maybe even upwards of 5 to 10 the farther off to the South and the closer that you go to the coast meanwhile we still have that flood outlook for today and that's for obvious reasons we're going to have the possibility of not only flooding rains but heavy rains now the other concern during these kind of Gulf storms what about the possibility of severe weather right what about the possibility of rotation this is kind of the good news bad news scenario Lafayette has been completely taken out of this all together and this is better news not great news for Baton Rouge but better news where we're now in a level one because remember that shift eastwardly for the track that's going to put the dirty side a little bit farther to the east so I would say this is not good news for the New Orleans area I would even throw in a couple of other locations like Mississippi that's probably where sometimes you get that one big feeder band right and that causes a lot of rotation sometimes that could spawn a couple of tornadoes so we don't have any tornado watches or Warnings right now now but I do anticipate that some might be necessary a little bit later on this afternoon as evidenced by the top of your screen getting more updates now this is the 7 a.m. update and we haven't seen any further intensification we're still at 90 mph that still makes it a strong high-end category one there's your pressure now the pressure we keep an eye on that as it drops a little bit more and a little bit more it means that the storm is starting to get more organized a little bit more intense and it still could become briefly a low-end category 2 now yesterday we were saying that probably won't happen but it intensified so quickly overnight that now we do have Max sustained winds at around 100 right before it makes that landfall later Wednesday afternoon I've zoomed in a little bit more closely because you could see this track Like I said good news bad news the bad news it passes a little bit closer to Baton Rouge the good news is the side of the storm that we're on and you could see the timing here at 1:00 in the afternoon the National Hurricane Center still thinks that this thing is not only out to seea but still by quite a bit so it doesn't look like it moves over land till I would say maybe 4: or 5 p.m. and look at how we've seen this shift this migration in the tracks this to me personally reminded me of Ida not because this is anything close to Ida it's nowhere near a strong that's good news right there but do you remember with Ida originally it was setting up in the western part of Louisiana and track by track day by day it was shifting and shifting this is how much we've seen the official track just shift over the past couple of days just since Monday so of of course because there's been that shift in the track we've had to put a shift in these numbers as well I would say Baton Rouge right now we're probably on the outer cusp of where we could see 70 to 80 m per hour wind gusts remember that's wind gusts not sustained winds there's a little bit of a difference and the brisk winds the heavier ones should be a little bit closer to I would say Hammond area going down towards New Orleans and if that weren't enough the immediate Coastline they need to be more concerned about the possibility of storm surge which by the way we've got the 5 to 10 foot still in there still looks like it encroaches a little bit farther towards the southeast but again that's more for folks that are on that immediate Coastline forecast for today needless to say it is a First Alert weather day all day all night 100% chance today 100% tonight we're going to have tropical storm up to Hurricane Force conditions but the good news this thing gets out of here so much in a hurry that even on Thursday we have now subtracted the red highlight for Thursday we've taken us out of a First Alert weather day because Before Dawn we're going to see everything clear out and get on out of here and then it looks like we start to stabilize the pattern and dry things out a little bit as we go into the weekend and in the meantime we're just going to keep a very watchful eye on satellite radar and the track mat and Liz Jared thank you so as we continue to file all of this for you we do want to let you know about some shelters in our area a voluntary evacuation is currently in effect for some of our assumption Parish residents so it includes people living in low-lying areas mobile homes RVs a shelter will actually open at 9:00 this morning for anyone who would like to go there this is happening there at the community center on Highway 308 you are asked to bring your own personal items like food blankets personal hygiene items anything you may need right and this kind of goes for all the the shelters that are popping up including this one again a voluntary evacuation also an effect for folks there in St John Parish specifically it's the folks living yes and the mobile homes uh 8 this morning you're going to have two shelters opening for folks who need that safe place to stay so it's going to be the uh the East St John Prep School and then the gym at West St John High they're asking you again just like the others bring the essentials with you officials also offering transportation starting at 10:00 to the shelters for anyone who needs it see the number right there there actually a couple of them 985 652 6338 or that 2222 number to set all of that up let's also cover tange B Parish here leaders there offering three shelters these are for Last Resort so they're strictly available for anyone who needs a roof over their head the shelters are going to be at the am Community Center Browns Chapel in the village of tangap and Restoration Church in Robert now again in this case bring everything that you will need with you just your essential items there if you have any questions you can call the Tang POA Parish government line the number there it's on your screen as well 985 748 3211 and keep this mind shelters of Last Resort absolutely right it's quite literally in the in the saying there shelter of Last Resort we talk about storm showing up here Liz we know very well that a lot of this K through 12 districts not in play today but we got colleges and universities also making sure their students are safe so parents I know if you have any babies there at LSU or at Southern University you may be watching and thinking well what plan is in place here so a quick note for LSU students who are staying on campus during the storm we talked about that shelter and place order that's going to be in effect till 10:00 a.m. until 100 p.m. tomorrow that's Thursday School leaders asking students and everyone to stay safe inside so if you're wondering about meals right well we're told that they're actually going to be delivered to Residence Halls during the shelter in place so let's jump up to the bluff here you got Southern University announcing kind of similar plans for students as well classes other activities they are set that are set for today and tomorrow those are now canceled today and tomorrow services will continue though for students you know living on campus housing that kind of thing including dining officials add students should check their emails check the emails or use the Jag Safe app for the latest information we also got a question in our inbox about mail delivery today understandably so right the USPS they're everywhere right so we actually checked in with them and they said that mail delivery in Baton Rouge in at in New Orleans all going to be temporarily suspended today so don't expect anything in the mail today they said they're expecting to pick up service noon tomorrow Thursday is when you should expect to get any important pieces of letter maybe hopefully medication you've already gotten by now so again don't expect any mail to be delivered today uh tomorrow at noon is when USPS says that they may start picking things back up again but they're going to be out there monitoring too is it safe for Crews and hosal workers to get out there is there debris out on the roads all these things that we're collectively tracking together understandably our state leaders are local leaders are following that too yeah we expect of course about 11:30 uh this morning the latest from the governor everybody over at GOP we'll catch you out there well continuing to track hurricane France back in a moment wb9 news tracking hurricane Francine okay yes Henry uh yeah yep e e wfb 9 News tracking hurricane Francine 7:41 your time on a Wednesday morning we continue to track hurricane Francine and when we say the entire storm team has been tracking this from the very beginning it's the entire Storm Team uh we got kind of all hands on deck here Liz that's it we want to bring in meteorologist Henry Blakes tracking this for you here and Henry we know that you are a native here I know you've been in the cold in North Dakota for a while but what a way to start in our part of the world yeah that's right because I fortunately had to deal with flash flooding the week before I returned home now all of us are dealing with hurricane Francine the good news for now Baton Rouge Lafayette New Orleans just mostly some light rain but you notice as we get closer to the coast some more of those steadier bands starting to make their way into far Southern Louisiana all of that is going to continue pushing northward as we continue through the rest of the day here's the eye of Francine still well off the coast that's where the strongest winds are and likely not going to arrive at least until let's say the late afternoon especially as we go into the evening overnight hours is where in the Baton Rouge area will likely have the strongest win along the coast you're going to have that much sooner flood advisories yes even though it's a quick mover flooding is still going to be an issue for much of Southern Louisiana even Mississippi the flood watches extend all the way up North because of the Heavy Rain potential thankfully this is going to be a quick mover but as you know with these systems they tend to dump a lot of rain in a short period of time so many of us in our viewing area there's still the potential for several inches of rain here's the weather prediction Center forecast going through tomorrow evening luckily for most of us we should be done with most of that rain hopefully tomorrow morning so this system is going to be exiting the region rather quickly but we're still going to have to deal with a lot of wet weather as well as a lot of wind looking stopping in at noon still keeping those heavier bands in our Southern parishes as we get closer to the coast but one thing you're going to notice as far as that landfall still expecting it at least during the mid to late afternoon hours and the models still pushing the eye or at least the worst of Francine off to our Eastern parishes New Orleans and eventually into Hammond Baton Rouge still expecting some stronger wind gusts nonetheless that's likely going to happen for the Baton Rouge area this evening and during the overnight hours but notice this is midnight hitting at that fast moving system yes we could be getting in on some calmer weather as we go at least into tomorrow morning I know a lot of folks questioning hey I have plans tomorrow or I have to hit the road that will all depend on the wind and how much damage this storm system is going to do especially on the roadways but with the way things are looking right now this could be promising as far as clearing up for tomorrow morning as well as tomorrow afternoon but you notice temperatures tomorrow going to be back in the 70s and 80s for the most part so what are we doing to prepare hopefully you're already prepared right now you should be have your Foods your Warrior batteries phone chargers all of those things available because you never know what's going to be happening with these types of storm system so for now just going to go back again and let you see exactly what's happening in case you're joining us at this time this is our radar and satellite just mostly light rain even down to the coast however you are going to notice starting to see some of those more moderate band on our Coastal parishes that is going to be the beginning of that moderate to steady rain band this is Francine here's the eyewall still well off the coast in the Gulf but it's moving to the east north east as it does and it gets closer that's where we're going to have more of our active weather with all of that moisture plunging in from our South so for now this is mainly the Calm before the storm because we're mostly getting just light rain otherwise we are going to get heavier rain as the storm approaches and we start to get closer to that eyewall Lafayette ban Rouge H New Orleans Hammond even our Mississippi counties in um in Pike County as well as wilon County you too under this flood watch for now that will continue at least through Thursday morning because of your Heavy Rain potential for all of us and that heavy rain as mentioned still going to continue not just for South Louisiana Florida Alabama especially Mississippi so we are going to be getting in on a good chunk of wet weather from this storm system and not everyone is going to get the same amount of rain just keep that in mind but that Heavy Rain potential folks is still going to be there that's going to be for everyone in our first alert viewing area new New Orleans including Baton Rouge as well but notice east of Baton Rouge between Baton Rouge Hammond and likely from Baton Rouge in the Slidel down to Morgan City up to mome possibly getting in on some of those heavier bands of rain so we will be monitoring this for everyone throughout the coming days but for now we are looking at the Calm before the storm and we've been taking a look at most of our cameras across the state it seems that everyone is at least taking this storm seriously not very much traffic on the roads for the moment that is good news so everyone is mostly in home and preparing for the storm here's a look at the forecast with the graph model at noon today Southern parishes toward the coast could be getting in on that rough weather wind quickly increasing overall but you'll notice our temperatures are still in the 70s as Jared had mentioned that could be a bit of a Saving Grace because it's not going to be nearly as hot as you know Louisiana weather could be so 70s that is okay at least we're not in the 80s especially if we end up losing power so 70s are going to be our highs today but during the late afternoon and evening notice some of the heavier rain that severe weather potential mostly south and east of the Baton Rouge area more towards Reserve H into Hammond New Orleans and even into the Mississippi Panhandle but the good news is that we should have calming conditions at least as we go into tomorrow morning notice this is midnight possibly done with some of the rain south of the interstate but bat Rouge gonzale on northward still expect that potential for rain to continue and a bit of Gusty wind bat Rouge if you're concerned about the wind yes I understand why because this is a hurricane but the strongest win B rou like this evening and especially overnight so we are going to continue to look at this as a serious situation as hurricanes tend to be but for the moment we will be expecting the First Alert weather day to continue you guys as we go into the a into our Thursday all right Henry thank you he was just talking about it uh the calming we're waiting for that calm right as we get towards the Midnight Hour in Baton Rouge we still got to get through this to be it's just it's not even 8:00 on on the Wednesday morning hasn't made landfall yet but that one spot uh that we do expect it to start to impact the very beginning Morgan City that's it we have live Eyes On The Ground there Matt Venia uh you've been live there since this morning 4:30 this morning and Matt when you got to Morgan City compared to now