Hurricane Zeta Leaves Flooded Vehicles, Wind Damage Across MS Gulf Coast

Hurricane Zeta plowed quickly across the Coast on Wednesday evening, felling trees, flooding neighborhoods and Biloxi casino garages, shoving boats onto the beach highway, drowning at least one person and leaving thousands without power.

A Category 2 storm at landfall Wednesday afternoon in Southeast Louisiana, Zeta barreled into Mississippi with Category 1 winds and wind gusts that hit Category 2, the National Weather Service in New Orleans said.

A 9-foot surge was recorded in Bay St. Louis with a 7-foot surge in Pascagoula, NWS meteorologist Phil Grigsby said. Zeta moved through in a matter of a few hours, dropping only 1.5 to 2 inches of rain along the Misssissippi Coast.

The highest wind gust — 104 mph — was recorded at 7:18 p.m. at the Bay-Waveland Yacht Club, Grigsby said. Other strong gusts recorded were 101 mph at 7:57 a.m. in Gulfport, 90 mph at 8 p.m. at Keesler Air Force Base in Biloxi and 74 mph at 7:48 p.m. at the Port of Pascagoula on Petis Bois Island.

“From a wind perspective, this is definitely the strongest storm you have seen since Hurricane Katrina,” Grigsby said.