Thousands evacuated as two tropical storms barrel towards southern US and Caribbean

“We are dealing with not only two potential storms in the next few hours, we are also dealing with Covid-19"

Thousands have been evacuated from their homes across the southern US and some parts of the Caribbean as two tropical storms barrelling towards the region develop into potential hurricanes.

Tropical storm Laura battered the Dominican Republic and Haiti over the weekend and has strengthened as it bears down on the Louisiana and Texas coasts. Tropical storm Marco, which became a hurricane over the Gulf of Mexico, is also heading for Louisiana.

It would be the first time two hurricanes form in the Gulf of Mexico simultaneously, according to records dating to at least 1900, said Colorado State University hurricane researcher Phil Klotzbach.

Hurricane Marco is expected to hit the US state of Louisiana on Monday with storm Laura making landfall in Texas by Thursday.

Paul Humphrey, of New Orleans, loads plywood into his truck, to board a friend's home in preparation for the arrival of hurricanes Marco and Laura
REUTERS

Louisiana governor John Bel Edwards, who declared a state of emergency on Friday, asked President Donald Trump for a federal emergency declaration.

“The cumulative impact of these storms will likely have much of Louisiana facing tropical storm/hurricane force impacts for a much longer period of time than it would with any one hurricane,” he wrote.

People in Louisiana were pictured heading to stores to stock up on food, water and other supplies.

Raymond Monday of Gretna, though, had only a generator on his cart at Sam’s Club. “We’ve got a freezer full of food” at home, along with large containers of water, he said.

The National Hurricane Centre said Marco was about 300 miles south of the mouth of the Mississippi River and heading north-northwest at 14 miles per hour, packing winds of 75 miles per hour.

People stand in long lines before entering Costo to pick up supplies as they prepare for Hurricane Marco and Tropical Storm Laura 
Getty Images

The centre warned of life-threatening storm surges and hurricane-force winds along the Gulf Coast.

Haitian civil protection officials said they had received reports that a 10-year-old girl had died when a tree fell on a home in the southern coastal town of Anse-a-Pitres, on the border with the Dominican Republic. It was the first reported death from the storm.

Hundreds of thousands were without power in the Dominican Republic, as both countries on the island of Hispaniola suffered heavy flooding.

A hurricane watch was issued for the New Orleans metro area, which Hurricane Katrina pummelled in August 2005.

Laura was centred about 95 miles off the eastern tip of Cuba on Sunday morning, with maximum sustained winds of 50 mph. It was moving west-northwest at 21 mph.

Marris Mielnick works on covering the windows in the Antieau Gallery located in the historic French Quarter
Getty Images

Crews armed with megaphones in the Dominican capital of Santo Domingo had urged dozens of residents in flood-prone areas to evacuate before Laura’s heavy rains hit.

The storm left more than 100,000 people without water in the Dominican Republic on Saturday night, while earlier it snapped trees and knocked out power to more than 200,000 customers in neighbouring Puerto Rico.

It was forecast to move over Cuba on Sunday night or Monday.

Officials in the Florida Keys, which Laura might pass over on its route into the Gulf, declared a local state of emergency and issued a mandatory evacuation order for anyone living on boats, in mobile homes and in campers.

Tourists staying in hotels were warned to be aware of hazardous weather conditions and consider changing their plans starting on Sunday.

Mike Bartholemey places extra blocks under his recently dry-docked shrimp boat, out of concern for strong winds
AP

New warnings were added on Sunday morning — including a storm surge warning from Morgan City, Louisiana to Ocean Springs, Mississippi, and a hurricane warning from Morgan City to the mouth of the Pearl River.

A tropical storm warning included Lake Pontchartrain in Louisiana, and metropolitan New Orleans.

A storm surge of up to 6ft was forecast for parts of coastal Louisiana and Mississippi.

Both storms were expected to bring three to six inches of rain to areas they were passing over or near, threatening flooding.

The hurricane centre said the storms were not expected to interact as the region faces an unusually active hurricane season.

“We are in unprecedented times,” Mississippi governor Tate Reeves said at a news conference on Saturday as he declared a state of emergency.

“We are dealing with not only two potential storms in the next few hours, we are also dealing with Covid-19.”

Additional reporting by Associated Press.

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