Hurricane Nate Bears Down on Central Gulf Coast

Hurricane Nate is steaming towards the central Gulf Coast and is expected to make landfall shortly after midnight Sunday morning. The category one storm is predicted to cross the shoreline between the Louisiana border with Mississippi and Mobile, Alabama at about 1:00 a.m. Eastern.

The latest update from the National Hurricane Center shows that Hurricane Nate is moving quickly (22 mph) to the NNW (340 degrees). Current sustained winds are at 85 mph. Some strengthening is expected during the day on Saturday before Nate makes landfall after midnight. Strong thunderstorms have already made their way onshore in southern Louisiana.

Hurricane officials issued a hurricane warning from Grand Isle, Louisiana eastward through the Alabama-Florida border.

While the storm is currently moving to the NNW, it is predicted to take a northerly turn Sunday morning. Sometime after making landfall, Nate is expected to move quickly to the northeast. Hurricane-force winds remain rather concentrated — only reaching out 35 miles from the storm’s center. Tropical storm-force winds can be found as much as 125 miles from the center.

The storms rapid movement is expected to continue — reducing the threat of flooding like that which occurred in the Houston area when Hurricane Harvey lingered for days. Hundreds of thousands of people were forced out of their homes as Harvey delivered more than a year’s worth of rain in less than a week.

Just a couple of weeks later, Hurricane Irma delivered massive winds to the southern Florida coast wreaking havoc on the state’s electrical grid and damaging thousands of homes from Key West to Jacksonville.

Late in September, Hurricane Maria pounded the U.S. Territory of Puerto Rico with category 4 winds that caused massive power loss and destroys homes and businesses from coast to coast. Massive flooding occurred as a dam partially collapsed, unleashing torrents of water downstream.

Nate will be the third named hurricane to strike the U.S. mainland this year. This is the first time since 2008 that three hurricanes made landfall in the U.S. during a single season.

Follow complete coverage of Hurricane Nate on Breitbart News.

Bob Price serves as associate editor and senior political news contributor for Breitbart Texas. He is a founding member of the Breitbart Texas team. Follow him on Twitter @BobPriceBBTX, GAB, and Facebook.