Governor John Bel Edwards has called on south-west Louisiana residents still reeling from the late August destruction of Hurricane Laura to ready themselves for Hurricane Delta.

The latest weather front has strengthened back into a Category Three storm and is expected to hit the state on Friday.

“It is very clear that south-west Louisiana’s going to take more of a punch from this than we would like to see for sure,” the governor said at a Thursday afternoon briefing.

Benjamin Schott, with the National Weather Service, says wind gusts could exceed 110 mph in the Lake Charles area wrecked by Laura and well into Lafayette in south central Louisiana, causing significant wind damage.

“We’re highly confident of this track at this point,” Mr Schott said.

Late Thursday afternoon, Delta had maximum sustained winds of 115 mph and was located 345 miles south of Cameron, Louisiana. It was moving north west at 12 mph.

Gov Edwards says local shelters and the state’s mega-shelter in central Louisiana have been set up with families distanced from one another, in response to the coronavirus pandemic.