Hurricane Francine live updates: Gulf Coast braces for Category 1 storm’s landfall

(NEW YORK) — Hurricane Francine made landfall early Wednesday evening in Louisiana, southwest of New Orleans, as a Category 2 storm. Francine has since weakened to a tropical depression as it brings heavy rain to the South.

Here’s how the news is developing:

No fatalities reported in Louisiana

No fatalities have been reported from the storm in Louisiana, Gov. Jeff Landry said Thursday, and he thanked residents for heeding all the warnings.

A Louisiana trooper suffered minor injuries while removing a downed tree from a road Wednesday night, officials said. The trooper was released from the hospital and is recovering at home.

Power outages due to vegetation are the biggest issue in Louisiana, officials said.

Fourteen route-clearance teams are out working to clear debris, officials said.

-ABC News’ Alexandra Faul

Over 340,000 without power in Louisiana

More than 340,000 customers are without power in Louisiana in the wake of Hurricane Francine. About 36,000 customers are without power in Mississippi and 36,000 are in the dark in Alabama.

What to expect next

Francine — which brought a record daily rainfall to New Orleans — is now pushing north, bringing heavy rain, gusty winds and potential tornadoes to the South.

Eight states across the South are under wind and flood alerts, from Louisiana to Missouri.

As Francine moves north, it is expected to slow down and stall. An additional 5 to 10 inches of rain is possible across the South, especially in Alabama, Tennessee, Mississippi and Georgia.

Over 390,000 without power in Louisiana

More than 390,000 customers are without power in Louisiana in the wake of Hurricane Francine. About 66,000 customers are waking up without power in Mississippi and 12,000 are in the dark in Alabama.

Francine weakens to tropical depression

Francine weakened to a tropical depression as it moved over south-central Mississippi Thursday morning.

Francine is now spreading heavy rain across Mississippi, Alabama and the Florida Panhandle.

A tornado watch is in effect for Florida and Alabama.

Heavy rains, ‘severe thunderstorms’ forecast as Francine weakens

The National Weather Service forecast heavy rains and thunderstorms across the southeast through Thursday as Tropical Storm Francine moves north from Louisiana into southern Mississippi.

The National Hurricane Center said Francine was around 20 miles northwest of New Orleans early Thursday, with maximum sustained winds of 50 mph. The tropical storm was moving northeast toward Mississippi at 14 mph.

Francine is expected to bring between 4 and 8 inches of storm rainfall to areas across southeastern Louisiana, Mississippi, far southern Alabama and the Florida Panhandle through Thursday, the NHC said.

“This rainfall could lead to considerable flash, urban and river flooding,” it added.

The NWS warned of “heavy rain and chances for severe thunderstorms” across the affected areas, as well as tornadoes “potentially impacting parts of Alabama and the Florida Panhandle along a slow-moving warm front.”

“The greatest threat for considerable flash flooding exists across parts of northern and central Alabama,” it added, noting the possibility of up to 10 inches of rain.

The NHC also warned of dangerous storm surges. Water could rise by 4 to 6 feet between the mouth of the Pearl River in Louisiana to Ocean Springs in Mississippi, as well as at Lake Pontchartrain.

Three- to 5-foot surges may occur from Ocean Springs, Mississippi to the state border with Alabama, between Morgan City and the mouth of the Mississippi River in Louisiana and at Lake Maurepas, the NHC said.

419,000 without power after Francine landfall

At least 419,942 people were without power early Thursday following the passage of Tropical Storm Francine, which made landfall as a Category 1 hurricane on Wednesday.

PowerOutage.us reported 392,440 people without power in Louisiana and 27,502 in Mississippi as of the early hours of Thursday morning.

Among those affected were 301,000 customers of the Entergy energy company, the firm said on its website. The most pronounced outages were in Louisiana, with the largest impact in coastal areas around New Orleans where Francine made landfall Wednesday.

Jefferson County (68,189), Orleans County (49,975), Lafourche County (36,701), Ascension County (27,038) and Terrebonne County (25,611) were the worst affected in Louisiana, Entergy said.

Francine weakens to tropical storm

After making landfall as a hurricane, Francine weakened to a tropical storm late Wednesday night.

All Hurricane Watches and Warnings have been canceled, but Tropical Storm Warnings continue for parts of Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama.

The Flash Flood Warning remains in effect in metro New Orleans while heavy rains remain.

By Thursday morning, Francine will be over central Mississippi with heavy rain, gusty winds, and tornado risk extending into Alabama to the Florida panhandle.

The storm is moving northeast at 16 mph while sustaining maximum winds of 65 mph.

Flash Flood Warning issued for New Orleans

Thunderstorms across Louisiana are producing heavy rain across the state, according to the National Weather Service.

Flash Flood Warnings are in effect for “Northwestern Jefferson Parish, Southwestern Orleans, Northern St. Charles Parish and Southwestern St. John The Baptist Parish” until 11:45 PM local time, the NWS said Wednesday evening.

Between 5 to 7 inches of rain has already fallen in the areas, with an additional 2 to 3 inches expected, according to NWS.

Other areas in Louisiana that may experience flash flooding include Hahnville, Metairie, Avondale, Laplace, Marrero, Reserve, Harvey, Timberlane, Jefferson, Gretna, Harahan, Westwego, St. Rose, Destrehan, Ama, New Sarpy, Norco, Luling and Waggaman.

AT&T and T-Mobile report resolution of 911 outage in New Orleans

AT&T and T-Mobile say the issues customers in New Orleans had reported in reaching 911 services in some storm-impacted areas have been resolved.

Those customers who needed emergency services were told to call the 10-digit number instead — 504 671-3600 — according to the NOLA Ready Emergency Alert System.

Francine continues to bring ‘life-threatening’ storm surge

Francine continues to bring life-threatening storm surges and hurricane conditions to southern Louisiana. Heavy rain and gusty winds will stick around while the Category 1 storm is expected to weaken Wednesday evening.

It’s currently moving southeast of Morgan City with maximum sustained winds of 85 mph.

Metro New Orleans is under a Flash Flood Warning and power went out in Slidell, Louisiana.

Causeway Bridge closes to traffic

The famed Causeway Bridge over Lake Pontchartrain in southeastern Louisiana has been closed to traffic due to “thunderstorms, high winds, crosswinds [and] poor visibility,” Causeway Police said.

Francine weakens to Category 1 storm

Francine has weakened to a Category 1 hurricane post-landfall, but continues to bring life-threatening storm surge and hurricane conditions to southern Louisiana.

A peak gust of 97 mph was reported at a weather station in Dulac.

FEMA on storm dangers

As residents in Louisiana hunker down due to Francine, Keith Turi, the associate administrator for the Federal Emergency Management Association, warned of potential hazards in the wake of the storm.

“What many people don’t know is that some of the most dangerous times are those hours right after the storm passes, when you’ve got high floodwaters or power lines down or even operating a generator, making sure you’re doing that safely and keeping it away from your home,” Turi told ABC News Live’s Kyra Phillips.

Turi said the agency has been coordinating with state and local officials for several days as Francine approached and will be prepared to conduct damage assessments on Thursday.

Francine makes landfall as Category 2 storm

Francine has made landfall as a Category 2 hurricane in southern Louisiana with 100 mph winds.

Landfall was about 30 miles south-southwest of Morgan City, in Terrebonne Parish.

Francine strengthens to Category 2

Francine has strengthened to a Category 2 hurricane with 100 mph winds as its eye approaches the Louisiana coast.

Life-threatening storm surge and hurricane conditions are moving onto shore.

Hurricane Francine’s eyewall nears Louisiana coast

Hurricane Francine’s eyewall is nearing the Louisiana coast, bringing hurricane-force winds close to shore.

Francine is now located 115 miles southwest of New Orleans and is moving northeast at 17 mph.

Some voluntary evacuations were issued in Terrebonne Parish, along the Louisiana coastline southwest of New Orleans, Parish President Jason Bergeron told ABC News.

“We’re starting to get some of the first bands coming through. And so we’re just getting everybody hunkered down and getting people to get to safety,” he said. “We opened our shelter last night and then we issued the curfew at 8 a.m. this morning, going to 8 a.m. tomorrow morning.”

Latest forecast

Tropical storm conditions have reached the Louisiana coastline, and life-threatening storm surge and hurricane-force winds are expected to begin in the next few hours leading up to Hurricane Francine’s landfall.

A hurricane watch is in effect in New Orleans, where the worst impacts will be Wednesday afternoon through Wednesday night.

A tornado watch has been issued for parts of Mississippi and Louisiana, including New Orleans.

Storm surge will worsen throughout the day. Up to 10 feet of storm surge is possible in parts of Louisiana; up to 5 feet is possible in the New Orleans area.

Flash flooding is a major threat for Louisiana and Mississippi.

Conditions across Louisiana will start to improve overnight as Francine weakens and moves north into Mississippi.

Francine will rapidly weaken after landfall and become a tropical storm by Thursday, but it’ll still bring heavy rain to the South.

Flash flooding will remain a threat through the end of the week as Francine moves north into Tennessee, Kentucky and Missouri.

The threat for isolated tornadoes will continue through Thursday morning, especially in Alabama and the Florida Panhandle.

-ABC News’ Melissa Griffin

Conditions deteriorating in southern Louisiana

Conditions are deteriorating in southern Louisiana as Hurricane Francine gets closer to landfall.

The storm, located 120 miles southwest of Morgan City, Louisiana, is moving northeast at 13 mph.

Rain bands are moving on shore and the dangerous winds are closing in.

-ABC News’ Melissa Griffin

‘The time to evacuate has now passed’

With hours to go until Hurricane Francine makes landfall in Louisiana, “the time to evacuate has now passed,” Jacques Thibodeau, the director of the Governor’s Office of Homeland Security and Emergency Preparedness, said at a news conference.

“It is now time to go down and hunker down,” he said. “We are no longer in the, ‘Prepare for a hurricane’ — we are now in the, ‘Respond to a hurricane.'”

The White House has approved an emergency declaration for the state. The Louisiana National Guard expects to have 2,400 guardsmen ready for the storm, along with 58 boats, 101 high water vehicles and 61 aircrafts, officials said.

Louisiana Gov. Jeff Landry said he’s been in contact with the Federal Emergency Management Agency and the Army Corps of Engineers, and said he’s fully confident in all state and federal agencies working together before, during and after the hurricane.

Landry also encouraged residents to “take advantage of the power that you have currently and make sure that you charge all of your devices.”

-ABC News’ Alexandra Faul

New Orleans residents should start sheltering in place

Residents in New Orleans should stay off the roads beginning at noon ET and remain sheltered in place until Thursday morning, Mayor LaToya Cantrell said.

“Conditions will worsen throughout the day—stay safe!” she tweeted.

Latest forecast

Francine is churning north as a Category 1 hurricane with 90 mph winds.

Landfall is forecast Wednesday afternoon or early evening as a Category 1 hurricane near Houma, Louisiana.

Life-threatening storm surge, flash flooding and hurricane-force winds are bearing down on Louisiana.

The storm surge could reach 10 feet along the Louisiana coast and wind gusts could hit 70 mph in New Orleans.

“Ensure you are in a safe location before the onset of strong winds or possible flooding,” the National Hurricane Center warned.

By Thursday morning, Francine will be bringing rain and gusty winds to Mississippi, and potential tornadoes to Alabama and the Florida Panhandle.

Throughout the day Thursday, the heavy rain and tornado threat will move into northern Alabama, Mississippi and Tennessee. Flash flooding is possible near Memphis and Nashville.

-ABC News’ Max Golembo

Weather warnings for Gulf Coast states

A raft of warnings was issued for cities in Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama ahead of Hurricane Francine’s expected landfall on Wednesday afternoon.

A hurricane watch was issued for New Orleans, with hurricane warnings for Morgan City and Houma on Louisiana’s Gulf Coast.

Tropical storm warnings are in place further east, covering cities including Biloxi, Mississippi, and Mobile, Alabama.

Storm surge warnings were announced for both Biloxi — where water may rise up to 5 feet — and Mobile, where water levels may rise by up to 4 feet.

Francine is expected to make landfall as either a high-end Category 1 or low-end Category 2 hurricane, with winds between 90 and 100 mph, the National Hurricane Center said. The Category 2 classification begins with winds of 96 mph.

Landfall may bring tornadoes in areas around New Orleans, Biloxi, Mobile and Pensacola, Florida.

Heavy rain may cause flash flooding from New Orleans all the way up to Jackson, Mississippi through to Wednesday night. As the storm moves into Mississippi on Thursday, it is forecast to produce flash flooding and gusty winds.

Francine is expected to stall through Thursday night into Friday morning, bringing heavy rain to Memphis, Nashville and Paducah, Kentucky.

Francine 295 miles from Louisiana coast

Hurricane Francine is expected to make landfall southwest of New Orleans as a Category 1 hurricane on Wednesday afternoon.

As of early Wednesday, Francine was 295 miles southwest of Morgan City, Louisiana, heading northeast at 10 mph.

Data collected by Air Force Reserve Hurricane Hunter aircraft indicated that the storm strengthened in the early hours of Wednesday, with maximum sustained winds close to 85 mph — up from 75 mph on Tuesday night.

New Orleans under Hurricane Watch

Emergency officials in New Orleans, Louisiana, warned residents on Tuesday that they should be prepared to shelter in place as Hurricane Francine approached landfall.

A Tropical Storm Warning and Hurricane Watch were issued for areas along the southern Louisiana coast, including New Orleans. A Flood Watch was also issued in Orleans Parish through Thursday morning, the city said.

Mayor LaToya Cantrell signed an emergency proclamation.

“The storm track has shifted more towards the east, which has the potential to worsen impacts for the city, but the storm remains disorganized,” the city said in a statement.

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(NEW YORK) — Nearly four years after he allegedly shot and killed an unarmed Black man who was dropping off Christmas money to a friend, the murder trial of former police officer Adam Coy was getting underway on Monday.

Coy, who is white, was fired from the Columbus Police Department about a week after the 2020 fatal shooting of 47-year-old Andre Hill.

About a month after the shooting, the 46-year-old Coy was arrested and indicted on charges of murder, reckless homicide, felonious assault and two counts of dereliction of duty. Coy has pleaded not guilty to the charges. He has not made any public comments on the case.

If convicted, Coy, who is free on $1 million bail, could face a sentence of life in prison without the possibility of parole.

The trial was scheduled to begin Monday in Franklin County Court of Common Pleas in Columbus with the start of jury selection.

Opening statements in the long-awaited trial, which was postponed indefinitely in April 2023 after Coy was diagnosed with cancer and underwent treatment, could get underway as early as Tuesday.

The shooting unfolded around 2 a.m. on Dec. 22, 2020, when Coy and another officer, Amy Detweiler, were called to a home in the Northwest Side neighborhood of Columbus to investigate a nonemergency noise complaint from a neighbor reporting a man sitting for a prolonged amount of time in an SUV outside the residence with the engine running, according to police officials and prosecutors.

Coy allegedly drew his gun and shined a flashlight into the open garage as Hill emerged from the garage holding a cellphone, according to police body camera footage released by the Columbus Police Department.

An autopsy determined that Hill was shot four times, suffering wounds to his chest and legs.

Neither Coy nor Detweiler turned their body-worn cameras on until after the shooting, but Coy’s camera had a “look-back” function that automatically activated and recorded 60 seconds of the episode without sound, including capturing the shooting.

The body camera footage also showed that as Hill lay dying on the floor of the garage, none of the officers who responded to the incident immediately provided first aid.

National civil rights attorney, Benjamin Crump, who is representing Hill’s family, alleged that the officers waited up to 15 minutes before before they started giving Hill first aid.

After officers on the scene turned their body cameras on, a woman came out of the house and told officers that Hill was a guest.

“He was bringing me Christmas money. He didn’t do anything,” she was heard telling the officers, who ordered her back inside.

Officer Detweiler, who is expected to testify in Coy’s trial, told investigators that before the shooting she and Coy were standing outside the house attempting to determine why Hill was at the location, according to records in the case released to the public on Dec. 29, 2020. Detweiler told investigators, according to the records, that she and Coy had their weapons drawn when Hill emerged from the garage, but that Hill did not appear to pose any threat before he was shot.

“Officer Detweiler stated Mr. Hill was walking towards her with a cell phone raised in his left hand,” according to the investigation records. “Officer Detweiler stated she did not observe any threats from Mr. Hill.”

Detweiler told investigators that Hill didn’t say a word as he approached her and Coy. She told investigators that Coy suddenly yelled out, “There’s a gun in his other hands, there’s a gun in his other hand” before opening fire, according to investigators.

Detweiler said she did not see a weapon in Hill’s hands and no firearms were found in Hill’s possession after the shooting, according to records.

Coy told investigators he thought he saw a firearm on Hill before shooting the man, officials said.

As protesters took to the streets of Columbus in the days following the shooting demanding Coy be fired and charged with murder, Columbus Public Safety Director Ned Pettus Jr. announced he had terminated Coy, a 19-year veteran of the police force, writing in his ruling that “known facts do not establish that this use of deadly force was objectively reasonable.”

Pettus found that Coy didn’t try to deescalate the situation before shooting Hill. After the shooting, Coy didn’t render aid or ensure that others did, according to Pettus.

The dereliction of duty charges Coy is facing at trial stems from him not turning on his body camera before the shooting and not warning Detweiler of the potential danger he believed Hill posed, prosecutors said.

After Coy was indicted, his attorney, Mark Collins, told ABC Columbus affiliate WSYX-TV that the charges against Coy, particularly the murder charge, did not make sense, saying it suggests his client knowingly intended to kill Hill.

“The knowing element, to cause serious physical harm with a deadly weapon, and someone died, that’s the concept, however, police officers are trained a certain way to take an action and to stop a threat,” Collins said at the time. “So that kind of doesn’t make sense.”

In May 2021, the City of Columbus agreed to a $10 million wrongful death settlement with Hill’s family, the highest amount ever paid by the city.

The indictment of Coy came just days after the Columbus City Council also passed Andre’s Law, which was named after Hill and requires Columbus police officers to turn on their body cameras when responding to calls and to immediately render first aid after a use-of-force incident.

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(NEW YORK) — Caroline Ellison, a key witness in the conviction of FTX co-founder Sam Bankman-Fried, was sentenced to two years in prison on Tuesday for her role in one of the largest financial frauds in history.

Ellison, 29, a former crypto executive, had pleaded guilty to multiple charges in connection with the federal fraud and conspiracy case involving the crypto trading platform. She cooperated with prosecutors and was a key witness during the trial last year of Bankman-Fried, her former boyfriend.

Ellison — who was the co-chief executive of Alameda Research, Bankman-Fried’s companion hedge fund — testified over three days during the trial, telling the court she committed fraud with her former on-again, off-again boyfriend and at his direction.

Bankman-Fried was ultimately found guilty on all counts for defrauding FTX customers out of $8 billion and sentenced to 25 years in prison.

During Ellison’s sentencing hearing in New York Tuesday afternoon, Judge Lewis Kaplan called her cooperation with the government “very, very substantial” and noted a “fundamental distinction” between Ellison and Bankman-Fried.

“She cooperated and he denied the whole thing,” Kaplan said. “I’ve seen a lot of cooperators in 30 years here. I’ve never seen one quite like Ms. Ellison.”

Still, the judge said even extraordinary cooperation could not be a “get out of jail free card.”

The judge called out another distinction between Ellison and Bankman-Fried.

“You are genuinely remorseful,” Kaplan said. “He’s sorry the gamble he took didn’t work out and he’s really sorry he got caught.”

Before the judge handed down the sentence, Ellison stood at a podium and apologized.

“I want to apologize most of all to the victims,” Ellison said, sniffling through tears. “Not a day goes by when I don’t think about all the people I hurt.”

Ellison said she was “deeply ashamed” by her conduct that enabled what the defense conceded was an “enormous and extraordinary fraud.”

It exposed Ellison to 110 years in prison, but her attorney sought a sentence without prison time.

“She has recovered her moral compass,” defense attorney Anjan Sahni said in court. “Caroline Ellison is a good person who, at 29 years old, can still make a positive impact on the world.”

Prosecutors agreed.

“Caroline Ellison deserves leniency,” Assistant United States Attorney Danielle Sassoon said. “A lenient sentence is also what is just.”

Sassoon noted Ellison consistently told the truth and never shied from her own culpability.

“This was a powerful contrast with Bankman-Fried’s testimony,” Sassoon said.

Ahead of her sentencing, Ellison’s attorneys urged Kaplan to be lenient, arguing Ellison “unflinchingly acknowledged her own wrongdoing, without minimization, blame shifting or self-pity.”

“She time and again proved herself an enormously credible and important cooperating witness” against Bankman-Fried, they added.

Federal prosecutors agreed Ellison provided “extraordinary cooperation that was crucial to the Government’s successful prosecution” of Bankman-Fried.

“Although she did not blow the whistle on any misconduct before FTX’s collapse, she came clean prior to FTX’s declaring bankruptcy to her employees on November 9, 2022,” Sassoon wrote in a letter to the judge. “Ellison approached her cooperation with remarkable candor, remorse, and seriousness.”

Prosecutors declined to make a specific sentencing recommendation in their filing. Defense attorneys suggested a sentence in line with a recommendation from probation officials of time served plus three years supervised release.

“Caroline poses no risk of recidivism and presents no threat to public safety. It would therefore promote respect for the law to grant leniency in recognition of Caroline’s early disclosure of the crimes, her unmitigated acceptance of responsibility for them, and — most importantly — her extensive cooperation with the government,” Sahni wrote in a letter to the judge.

Sahni outlined Ellison’s “complex” relationship with Bankman-Fried that began when the two met at Jane Street Capital in 2015 when she was an intern and he was a junior trader. He said their “on-again-off-again, sometimes-secret relationship” had “warped” her moral compass and led her to take actions “that she knew to be wrong, helping him steal billions.”

During Bankman-Fried’s sentencing hearing in March, Judge Kaplan also ordered that he forfeit $11 billion that the government can use to compensate victims.

The former crypto billionaire has filed an appeal to overturn his conviction.

Two former FTX executives who also pleaded guilty in the case — former director of engineering Nishad Singh and co-founder Gary Wang — are set to be sentenced in October and November, respectively.

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