NEW ORLEANS – Hurricane Francine barreled into the Louisiana coast Wednesday with destructive 100 mph winds and a dangerous storm surge, knocking out power to hundreds of thousands of electrical customers and pummeling the region with several inches of rain, prompting flash flooding emergencies. The eye of Francine moved onshore at 5 p.m. CT in Terrebonne Parish, bringing hurricane-force winds inland into the southern region of the state near Baton Rouge. New Orleans reported gusts of 78 and 76 mph as Francine’s eyewall came through the city Wednesday evening, while Dulac recorded a gust of 97 mph. After landfall, the cyclone quickly weakened back down to a tropical storm but promised to spread impacts well inland. WATCH: HURRICANE FRANCINE’S FURY SLAMS LOUISIANA WITH FEROCIOUS WIND, TORRENTIAL RAINPower outages continued to creep up across Louisiana, reaching over 300,000 by Wednesday evening, according to PowerOutage.us. The outages are expected to continue to rise as Francine moves further northward, impacting southeast Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama.Nearby, a Flash Flood Emergency was issued for parts of the New Orleans metro where 0.50″ of rain fell in just 9 minutes and 4.5 inches fell within three hours as rain still fell, with life-threatening flooding possible.Louisiana officials urged residents to stay put until first responders could safely reach them if needed. Conditions created by Francine also brought the threat of tornadoes and severe thunderstorms, which were expected to last into Friday morning.In addition to power outages, airlines canceled flights into and out of the Louis Armstrong New Orleans International Airport through Thursday morning.Some parishes issued mandatory curfews from Wednesday afternoon until sunrise on Thursday, including Cameron Parish where flooding occurred prior to landfall.Ahead of Francine’s arrival, President Joe Biden approved an emergency declaration for the Bayou State.”After declaring a state of emergency, we have now determined that this storm is of such severity that an effective response is beyond the capabilities of the state and local governments,” Louisiana Gov. Jeff Landry said. “This federal assistance is needed to save lives and property.”The NHC said Francine is expected to take a gradual turn toward the north, bringing the center of Francine across southeastern Louisiana and southwestern and central Mississippi on Thursday.The center of circulation is expected to continue well inland, but the storm’s impacts could expand outward hundreds of miles.LOUISIANA RESIDENTS SCRAMBLE FOR SUPPLIES AHEAD OF HURRICANE FRANCINEWeather alerts, such as wind advisories, Flood Watches, and other hazardous weather outlooks, have been posted as far north as southern Missouri and as far east as Tennessee as what is left of the cyclone makes its way through the South.With Francine, eight hurricanes have made landfall in Louisiana since 2000. FOX Weather Correspondent Robert Ray has covered most of those landfalls.”These people are tough as nails,” said Ray, from Houma, Louisiana on Wednesday.Francine became a hurricane on Sept. 10, marking the peak of the 2024 hurricane season when a named storm is most likely to be roaming the Atlantic Basin. As Francine heads north and eventually dissipates, the NHC is also tracking several other systems in the Atlantic.Francine was the third hurricane to make landfall in the continental U.S. during the 2024 season. Hurricane Beryl made landfall in Matagorda, Texas, on July 8 as a Category 1 cyclone. About a month later, Hurricane Debby strengthened into a Category 1 before making landfall near Steinhatchee, Florida, on August 5.