The center of the storm will push across the state, slamming New Orleans and Baton Rouge with damaging winds, life-threatening storm surge.

Tropical Storm Francine is expected to make landfall in Louisiana Wednesday, becoming a hurricane. See tracker, path and spaghetti models.

Low-lying Louisiana was the site of one of the most devastating hurricanes in US history, Hurricane Katrina, which killed more than 1,300 people as it slammed into populous New Orleans in late August 2005, overwhelming the city’s levee system and causing extensive flooding.