The Latest: Trump urges Gulf Coast to prepare for storm

NEW ORLEANS (AP) — The Latest on Hurricane Delta (all times CDT):

3:30 p.m.

WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump says he has spoken with the governors of Texas and Louisiana about Hurricane Delta and says that residents should heed the directions of state and local officials.

The storm is expected to hit the Louisiana coast Friday night or Saturday morning. It’s the 25th named storm of the Atlantic’s unprecedented hurricane season.

Trump says he was briefed on the storm and tweets: “please be prepared, be careful, and be safe!”

Louisiana Gov. John Bel Edwards has requested a pre-landfall federal emergency declaration in a letter to Trump.

Louisiana is still recovering from Hurricane Laura, which ravaged the southwestern region as it roared ashore as a Category 4 storm in August.

2 p.m.

NEW ORLEANS — New Orleans' mayor has urged the city’s residents to remain vigilant as the expected path of Hurricane Delta is predicted to hit the state’s coast Friday night or Saturday morning.

“We stand ready,” Mayor LaToya Cantrell at a news briefing Wednesday.

Colin Arnold, director of New Orleans Homeland Security and Emergency Preparedness, said the storm’s projection remains uncertain but the forecast track is currently west of the city.

“It was a monster before it hit the Yucatan,” Arnold said of Delta. “And, we are on the east side of this, slightly out of the cone, but be careful. It could go either way, left or right.”

City officials said residents should expect anywhere from 4 to 8 inches of rain over the entire event.

Meanwhile, officials said about 5,600 people evacuated from southwestern Louisiana after Hurricane Laura remain in New Orleans, down from a high of 12,000.

Arnold urged those...