Hurricane Zeta is poised to crash into Louisiana with a "life-threatening storm surge" and winds that will reach far inland, the state's sixth lashing this year from a Gulf Coast storm.
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Zeta was about 355km from the mouth of the Mississippi River on Wednesday morning, heading north with an expected afternoon landfall.
Its winds slipped to 150kph but could restrengthen ahead of landfall, the US National Hurricane Center said.
Zeta will hit the Louisiana coast as a "significant hurricane," NHC forecaster Daniel Brown said.
"Strong winds are likely to spread well inland along the northern Gulf coast this evening and tonight."
It will bring a storm surge of up to 2.4 metres from Port Fourchon, Louisiana, to the mouth of the Pearl River, in Mississippi, the NHC said.
Rains of 5-10cm are expected from Gulf Coast to the central Appalachians, the NHC said.
New Orleans halted city and transit services and advised residents living outside the state's protective levee system to leave for higher ground.
Coastal and low-lying communities along the state's Gulf Coast called for mandatory evacuations.
A Louisiana landfall would make Zeta the fifth named storm to directly strike the US state this year after Cristobal, Marco, Laura and Delta.
Australian Associated Press
