Hurricane Zeta: Widespread damage leaves 1 million without power

Zeta was the fifth named storm to hit Louisiana during a busy and brutal hurricane season. Its strong winds caused widespread power outages in Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and Georgia.

Hundreds of thousands of people were without electricity in states across the South on Thursday as Hurricane Zeta barraged through the region with powerful winds, shredding homes and businesses and knocking down trees.

The storm moved quickly, making landfall on the Louisiana coast as a Category 2 hurricane on Wednesday afternoon. Before the night was over, officials on the coast had already begun assessing the extent of the damage and deploying workers to begin restoring power.

But by Thursday morning, about 400,000 customers in Louisiana were without electricity, according to Entergy Louisiana, while at least 600,000 across Georgia, 494,000 in Alabama, 277,000 across North Carolina and more than 83,000 in Mississippi were also without power.

— NYT: Top Stories