Louisiana was busy preparing for the storm as Hurricane Francine approached the coast on Wednesday.

Francinewhich developed in the Gulf of Mexico on Monday, strengthened into a Category 1 hurricane on Tuesday evening and is expected to make landfall in Louisiana, the National Hurricane Center said.

Francine is expected to reach Louisiana in the afternoon or evening, with “life-threatening storm surge and hurricane-force winds” expected to hit the state later Wednesday, according to the hurricane center.

The hurricane has been rapidly strengthening in recent hours and “it looks like it could indeed reach Category 2 status,” said David Parkinson, senior weather and climate producer at CBS News. A hurricane is classified as a Category 2 when its wind speed reaches 96 mph.

After Francine makes landfall, the hurricane is expected to move north across Mississippi Thursday and Thursday night and “rapidly weaken” after moving inland, the hurricane center said.

The storm “is expected to bring total rainfall of 4 to 8 inches, with localized amounts of up to 12 inches across much of Louisiana and Mississippi through Friday morning,” the center added. There is potential for “significant” flash and urban flooding. Southeast Louisiana, including metropolitan New Orleans and Baton Rouge, are most vulnerable. So is southwest Mississippi, including the entire coastal region.

As of 8 a.m. EDT Wednesday, Francine’s center was about 195 miles southwest of Morgan City, Louisiana, and about 260 miles east-northeast of the mouth of the Rio Grande, the hurricane center said. It was moving northeast at 12 mph, with maximum sustained winds of 90 mph — which would make it a Category 1 storm. Forecasters said it could strengthen throughout the morning.

Louisiana Gov. Jeff Landry declared a state of emergency Monday night ahead of Francine’s arrival. Mississippi Gov. Tate Reeves also declared a state of emergency for his state.

“This declaration of emergency will provide parishes across the state with the resources to protect the lives, safety and well-being of Louisiana’s citizens,” Landry said on social media. “Throughout this process, we will remain in constant contact with local officials and first responders and will assist them every step of the way.”

In Morgan City, many business owners and residents were locking down and evacuating their homes on Tuesday. Lines at gas stations grew longer as the day went on, and some even ran out of fuel.

Carole Duplantis of Houma, Louisiana, is an essential worker in a hospital maternity ward and is unable to evacuate.

“Even during hurricanes, we deliver babies,” Duplantis said.

She told CBS News she used sandbags to protect her home, which is still being renovated after it was damaged by Category 4 Hurricane Ida in 2021.

“No, I’m not recovered yet,” Duplantis said of Ida.

Cars and trucks lined up in downtown New Orleans on Tuesday to pick up sandbags from the parking lot of a local YMCA as people prepared to keep their homes from being flooded, The Associated Press reported.

According to the National Weather Service, more than 2.3 million people along the Gulf Coast are under hurricane warnings. A hurricane warning was in effect for the Louisiana coast from the Vermilion/Cameron line eastward to Grand Isle. A tropical storm warning was in effect for the Louisiana coast east of Sabine Pass to the Vermilion/Cameron line, east of Grand Isle to the Alabama/Florida border and Lake Maurepas and Lake Pontchartrain, including metropolitan New Orleans.

“We’re not taking this storm lightly because of the movement toward the east, which is closer,” Randy Smith, sheriff of St. Tammany Parish north of New Orleans, said at a news conference Tuesday. “We’re prepared for any emergencies that arise.”

Storm surge warnings were in effect for areas from Cameron, Louisiana to the Mississippi-Alabama border, Vermilion Bay, Lake Maurepas and Lake Pontchartrain.

“We all know that the current projected path of Francine looks like it’s going to be headed toward Louisiana,” Texas Gov. Greg Abbott said Tuesday afternoon at a news conference in the southeastern Texas city of Beaumont, which is in a region that could be hit by Francine. “However, we also know that storms, even in the recent past, can sometimes deviate from what the forecast is. So first of all, we’re concerned about the possibility that the storm could change track (and) move more toward Texas, in which case the area that would be most likely to be challenged would be where we are now, in Jefferson County, in Orange County and surrounding areas.”

He added that even if Francine stays on its current path, Jefferson and Orange counties will still face “tremendous challenges.”

The Hurricane Center in Miami explains that a hurricane warning means that hurricane conditions are expected somewhere within the warning area, and is typically issued hours before the first tropical storm force winds arrive that would hamper weather preparations. A hurricane warning means that hurricane conditions are possible within the warning area, and a storm surge warning means that there is a risk of life-threatening flooding, due to rising water rushing inland from the coastline, during the next 36 hours at the specified locations.

Francine’s development followed an unusually quiet August and early September in the Atlantic hurricane season. Francine is the sixth hurricane of the Atlantic season the storm mentioned.

Experts had one of the busiest Atlantic seasons According to The Associated Press, researchers at Colorado State University said last week that they still expect an above-average season overall.

Dave Malkoff contributed to this report.