⁍ Hurricane Delta is speeding across the Gulf of Mexico toward a region still recovering from the last storm.

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⁍ The approaching storm has halted some oil exports and led energy producers to evacuate workers and shut-in offshore oil and gas production.

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⁍ Residents in Louisiana’s coastal areas and those living outside the protective levee system have been urged to evacuate.

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– Louisiana is preparing for Hurricane Delta, which is expected to make landfall in the state on Friday—making it the 10th named storm of the year and the first to make landfall in the northern Gulf Coast since 1916, Reuters reports. The National Hurricane Center says Delta, which hit Mexico’s Yucatan Peninsula on Wednesday, has strengthened to a Category 1 hurricane with 115mph winds and is expected to hit Louisiana on Friday afternoon or evening. The state is still recovering from Hurricane Laura, which hit in September, and Tropical Storm Cristobal, which hit in June. “We have today to prepare ourselves and our families for the arrival of Hurricane Delta,” Louisiana Gov. John Bel Edwards says. “Let’s make it count.” Louisiana’s coastal areas are under a hurricane watch from the Texas-Louisiana border to Grand Isle, the National Hurricane Center says. Oil and gas production has been halted and the US Coast Guard has warned shippers of potential gale-force winds from Port Arthur, Texas, to Mobile, Alabama. Residents in Louisiana’s coastal areas and those living outside the protective levee system have been urged to evacuate.