October 3, 1995
Web posted at: 7:55 a.m. EDT
MIAMI, Florida (CNN) -- With Hurricane Opal moving north at 8 mph in the Gulf of Mexico, a hurricane watch was posted Tuesday morning from Louisiana to northwest Florida. The National Hurricane Center said the watch may be extended eastward to cover more of the Florida panhandle. Forecasters said Opal was not expected to hit the U.S. mainland until about midday Wednesday. The storm, which strengthened into a hurricane on Monday, is expected to increase in intensity as it moves over the warm waters of the Gulf of Mexico.
Satellite tracking movie - 374K QT movie
The hurricane watch, stretching from Morgan City, Louisiana,
to Pensacola, Florida, was issued at 5 a.m. EDT. At 11 a.m.,
the storm was 435 miles south-southeast of the mouth of the
Mississippi River. Tides along the Gulf Coast were reported
three feet above normal and an evacuation was ordered for
Grand Isle, Louisiana, the state's only inhabited barrier
island, as water washed over the only road leading to the
mainland. Oil rigs in the Gulf of Mexico have been evacuated
and 31 floodgates in Orleans County, Louisiana, have been
closed to protect the city of New Orleans.
Opal, with top sustained winds of 90 mph, killed at least seven people as it moved slowly along the Mexican Gulf Coast, flooding low-lying areas in at least six Mexican states. Another 20 people are missing. The government news agency Notimex reports more than 100,000 people have had to evacuate their homes. Transportation authorities have ordered all the Gulf of Mexico's 31 ports closed to navigation until further notice.
These sites are not necessarily endorsed by CNN Interactive
![[Imagemap]](/US/images/us_nav.gif)
Copyright © 1995 Cable News Network, Inc. All rights reserved.
This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
AP contributed to this report.