Tropical Storm Nate swept ashore in Mississippi on Sunday with strong winds rattling the doors of Biloxi’s many casinos and lashing rain flooding the gambling floors and surrounding highways.
The fast-moving former hurricane had been expected to rapidly weaken as it moved inland.
As maximum winds quickly diminished to 70mph after weakening to a tropical storm early on Sunday, Nate appeared to lack the devastating punch of its predecessors.
The fourth major storm to strike the United States in less than two months, Nate killed at least 30 people in Central America before entering the warm waters of the Gulf of Mexico and bearing down on the U.S. South.
It has also shut down most oil and gas production in the Gulf.
The center of the storm will move across the Deep South, Tennessee Valley and central Appalachian Mountains through Monday.
Hurricane Nate flooded Beach Boulevard next to Harrah’s Casino as the the eye of the storm – which has been downgraded from a hurricane to a tropical storm – pushed ashore in Biloxi, Mississippi early October 8
A sailboat was washed up on the beach early Sunday in Biloxi, Mississippi. The storm’s winds have diminished to 70mph
Lanny Dean of Tulsa, Oklahoma is pictured taking video of the story as he wades along a flooded Beach Boulevard in Biloxi
Palm trees sway in the harsh winds of Hurricane Nate, which has been downgraded to a tropical storm. The fast-moving former hurricane had been expected to rapidly weaken as it moved inland
A woman wades through a flooded Water Street in downtown Mobile, Alabama in the early hours of October 8. The city is about 55 miles northeast of Biloxi
The Mississippi Gaming Commission closed the 12 casinos in south Mississippi including the Hard Rock in Biloxi, Mississippi ahead of the arrival of Hurricane Nate on Saturday evening (pictured hours before the hurricane made landfall)
This satellite image obtained from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) shows Hurricane Nate just moments before making landfall Saturday evening
Nate follows a succession of big Atlantic hurricanes, Harvey, Irma and Maria, which have devastated areas of the Caribbean and southern United States in the last two months.
The storm’s center will move inland over Mississippi and across the deep south, Tennessee Valley and Central Appalachian Mountains through Monday, the National Hurricane Center said.
Before then, storm surges of up to 11 feet on the Mississippi-Alabama border were possible, the NHC said.
Nate made its initial landfall near the mouth of the Mississippi river on Saturday evening and then made a second landfall early on Sunday near Biloxi, Mississippi, where its 46,000 residents were warned that the highest storm surge could reach 11 to 12 feet.
The storm surge brought flood waters over Highway 90 and up to oceanside casinos in Biloxi, while flood waters swept over streets in communities across Mississippi and Alabama, according to reports on social media.
Waffle House employees enjoy a smoke break at their restaurant, which sits 75 feet from the beach in Biloxi. They are pictured on Saturday night, mere hours before the storm hit
David Amerson (left) and TJ Krueger (right) wade through a flooded street in Mobile, Alabama early on October 8
A car drives by a log and other debris that washed up on the street (US 90) after Hurricane Nate hit Biloxi
A lone dumpster sits in the middle of US 90 in Biloxi after being washed there by Hurricane Nate’s storm surge
A plant blows in the winds of Hurricane Nate on Sunday, October 8 in Mobile, Alabama
Pictured is another view of Lanny Dean wading along Beach Boulevard in Biloxi to film the storm damage
‘We have a restaurant and one of our main bars open so they have been OK so far,’ said Chett Harrison, the general manager at the Golden Nugget hotel and casino in Biloxi where 300 guests were hunkered down.
‘No one has tried to leave, thank goodness, because everything is flooded around us,’ he told a local CBS TV affiliate.
It brought winds to the Biloxi area of of 85 miles per hour, threatening parts of Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama with torrential rain and flooding.
On social media, people posted photos of flooding in Biloxi and other locations along the Gulf Coast.
In Hancock County, Mississippi, northeast of New Orleans, rain and wind were gaining intensity and many streets were washing over.
Conditions were likely to worsen in the next few hours, said Brian Adam, director of emergency management for the county.
The county evacuated people from low-lying areas and imposed a curfew.
On Saturday states of emergency were declared in Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama, as well as in more than two dozen Florida counties.
This enhanced infrared satellite image made available by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration shows Hurricane Nate approaching the mouth of the Mississippi River on Saturday
A handout photo made available by NASA shows the system approaching the Gulf Coast earlier in the day on Saturday
Hours before Hurricane Nate was forecast to hit the Mississippi Gulf Coast, residents visit a pier in Biloxi, Mississippi, to look at the swells before nightfall
An abandoned boat takes on water on the Mississippi Gulf Coast near Biloxi on Saturday
Kevin and Stacy Marlow, from Vaiden, Mississippi, search for driftwood on the beach ahead of the arrival of Hurricane Nate as night falls in Gulfport, Mississippi, on Saturday
In Alabama Governor Kay Ivey urged residents in areas facing heavy winds and storm surges to take precautions.
At least 8,000 customers were without power in Mississippi, Mississippi Power reported, while more than a thousand people had arrived at shelters, the Mississippi Emergency Management Agency said.
Widespread power outages were also reported throughout the coastal regions of Mississippi, Alabama, Louisiana, and the Florida panhandle.
Rainfall of 3 to 6 inches, up to a maximum of 10 inches, were expected east of the Mississippi River from the central Gulf Coast into the Deep South, in the eastern Tennessee Valley, and southern Appalachian mountains, the NHC said.
Rainfall in the Ohio Valley and into the central Appalachians could be 2 to 5 inches with a maximum of 7 inches.
New Orleans Mayor Mitch Landrieu lifted a curfew in the city on Saturday evening that was originally scheduled to last until Sunday morning. He said in a statement on social media however, that there was still a serious threat of storm surge outside levee areas.
Earlier Saturday, Nate passed to the east of New Orleans, sparing the city its most ferocious winds and storm surge.
And its quick speed lessened the likelihood of prolonged rain that would tax the city’s weakened drainage pump system.
An Instagram user posted this photo of what appears to be the flooded parking lot of the Hard Rock Cafe in Biloxi
Heavy rain is seen at Orange Beach, Alabama, as Hurricane Nate approaches in this still image taken from a video obtained via social media on Saturday
Heavy rain is seen in the French Quarter of New Orleans as Hurricane Nate approaches on Saturday
A family takes photos of the Gulf of Mexico in Gulfport, Mississippi as Hurricane Nate approaches the northern Mississippi Gulf Coast on Saturday
Storm clouds hang over downtown New Orleans as Hurricane Nate moved into Southern Louisiana on Saturday
Major shipping ports across the central U.S. Gulf Coast were closed to inbound and outbound traffic on Saturday, as Nate intensified and storm surges of up 11 feet were expected at the mouth of the Mississippi River.
The storm curtailed 92 percent of daily oil production and 77 percent of daily natural gas output in the Gulf of Mexico, more than three times the amount affected by Harvey.
Workers were evacuated from 301 platforms and 13 rigs as of Saturday, said the U.S. Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement.
The storm made its first landfall in the United States in a sparsely populated area of southeast Louisiana.
The hurricane made landfall just after 8pm Eastern time Saturday.
The hurricane’s center had been expected to pass over portions of Mississippi, Alabama, and Tennessee late Saturday through Sunday night, eventually weakening to a tropical depression.
A man walks through the French Quarter as Hurricane Nate approaches the US Gulf Coast in New Orleans on Saturday
Tourists walk down Bourbon Street in New Orleans as Hurricane Nate approaches the US Gulf Coast on Saturday evening
Hannah Jacole Powell-Yost takes photos of a danger sign in the Gulf surf in Gulfport, Mississippi as Hurricane Nate approaches on Saturday
Waitresses serve customers inside a Waffle House that plans to stay open all night across the street from the Gulf of Mexico in Long Beach, Mississippi as Hurricane Nate approaches the Gulf Coast on Saturday
In Mississippi, Hancock County Emergency Management Director Brian Adam said his agency received reports of rising water on low-lying streets facing the Mississippi Sound and the Bay of St. Louis.
‘This is the worst hurricane that has impacted Mississippi since Hurricane Katrina,’ Mississippi Emergency Management Director Lee Smithson said Saturday. ‘Everyone needs to understand that, that this is a significantly dangerous situation.’
In Biloxi, authorities reported water from Biloxi Bay rising on some streets.
The window for preparing ‘is quickly closing,’ Alabama Emergency Management Agency Director Brian Hastings said.
Florida Governor Rick Scott warned residents of the Panhandle to prepare for Nate’s impact.
‘Hurricane Nate is expected to bring life-threatening storm surges, strong winds and tornados that could reach across the Panhandle,’ Scott said.
The evacuations affect roughly 100,000 residents in the western Panhandle.
The weather map above shows Hurricane Nate just before it made landfall near the Louisiana-Mississippi frontier
According to the National Hurricane Center, Nate will move relatively quickly through the Southeast toward Appalachia, the Northeast, and New England
Between four and eight inches of rain will fall from far southern Mississippi and northern and western Alabama to northern Georgia, middle and eastern Tennessee, western North Carolina and the Virginia Panhandle, AccuWeather forecast
The storm doused Central America with heavy rains on Thursday, killing at least 16 people in Nicaragua, 10 in Costa Rica, two in Honduras and two in El Salvador.
Thousands were forced to evacuate their homes and Costa Rica’s government declared a state of emergency.
President Donald Trump on Saturday approved an emergency declaration for Mississippi just as the hurricane made landfall, The Hill reported.
President Trump tweeted his support for the region on Saturday
The declaration gives the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) authorization to coordinate all disaster relief work, supplementing local and state agencies.
On Saturday morning, the president tweeted his support for the southern states and said FEMA – the strained federal emergency management agency – was on hand to help.
‘Our great team at FEMA is prepared for Hurricane Nate. Everyone in LA, MS, AL, and FL please listen to your local authorities & be safe!’ Trump said.
Nate is the latest in a string of deadly hurricanes which have wreaked havoc on the South, the Caribbean and parts of Central America since August.
Scores of boats were stacked into the Violet Canal to be kept safe as the storm approached on Saturday afternoon
In New Orleans, businesses closed up early and put plywood over their store fronts before the storm hit
Two Stormtroopers walk through the French Quarter in New Orleans as the rain begins on Saturday afternoon
There was no dampening the spirit of this reveler who embraced the downpours with an extravagant umbrella
A woman braces the rain in some shorts and a running jacket while a man pushes a stroller through the downpours in New Orleans
Clara the dog goes for a walk in her rain coat on Saturday afternoon as Hurricane Nate approaches New Orleans
There was an organized volunteer effort in New Orleans where communities were out in force to fill and distribute sandbags
Residents in New Orleans fill sandbags on Friday ahead of the storm. A state of emergency had been declared in the city
A state of emergency was declared in New Orleans on Friday. Above, sand bags are placed near a levee at the pumping station at the end of the 17th street canal
Path of destruction; Municipal employees work on damage in the Panamerican Road, following the passage of Tropical Storm Nate, in Rivas, Nicaragua, on October 6
Damage: A view of a sinkhole on the street after the passage of Tropical Storm Nate in San Juan del Sur’s bay in Nicaragua on October 6. Later that day, it strengthened to a hurricane
Nate has already killed at least 30 in Central America. Costa Rica was hit hard, seen here on Friday