Hurricane Francine was due to barrel into Louisiana Wednesday, forecasters said, warning of life-threatening flooding and storm surge as residents of the southern US state rushed to board up businesses and stockpile emergency supplies.
The Category 2 storm was packing sustained winds of 100 miles (155 kilometers) per hour and could bring up to 10 feet of storm surge and 12 inches of rain in some parts of Louisiana, the National Hurricane Center (NHC) said.
