Town Evacuates in Advance of Hermine

There wasn’t much left to pack when the 1,400 residents of Grand Isle, La., were ordered to head for the mainland because of Tropical Storm Hermine: It was their third evacuation in as many weeks. Almost everyone had left town by late afternoon, as winds reached 25 mph and sea water from tides a foot higher than normal sloshed over some of roads. The state’s only inhabited barrier island, Grand Isle is just 5 feet above sea level, and high water cuts off the only road to the mainland before the island floods. Hermine was centered about 115 miles south-southwest of New Orleans. The storm’s winds of 45 mph at its center were expected to strengthen. Hermine was headed directly toward New Orleans but was expected to take a northerly turn and land west of the city.