Hurricane Delta has made landfall in the US state of Louisiana, which is still recovering from the damage caused by a previous hurricane in August.
The US National Hurricane Center (NHC) also warned of an eight-foot-high "life-threatening storm surge" across the Louisiana coast, caused by high winds from Delta.
The hurricane first made landfall near Puerto Morelos on Mexico's Caribbean coast on Wednesday, forcing thousands of tourists and residents to move into shelters for safety.
Having crossed the Gulf of Mexico, Delta is now moving across central and north-eastern Louisiana, and will enter northern Mississippi and the Tennessee Valley on Saturday.
"Rapid weakening is expected overnight and Saturday," the NHC said. "Delta is forecast to weaken to a tropical storm tonight and to a tropical depression on Saturday.
Schools and government offices shut their doors and officials in a dozen parishes called for evacuations.
Louisiana Governor John Bel Edwards previously said that 2,400 National Guard personnel were being mobilised to help the state's residents.
Many people left their homes to try to get out of the storm's path.
Lake Charles Mayor Nic Hunter told Reuters news agency that Hurricane Laura "is still very fresh and very raw, and I think that had something to do with more people evacuating for Delta".
"In this community, there are a lot of homes that were damaged and so a lot of people are concerned about staying in that structure again," he added.
Governor Edwards also previously warned that although Delta was less strong than Laura, it could sweep up debris from the previous hurricane and hurl it like missiles.
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