Francine was a short duration but impactful hurricane that hit New Orleans, with persistent downpours and wind gusts of 80 mph that caused damage and knocked out power to hundreds of thousands. Francine then made its way northward through Alabama Thursday, bringing heavy rain and strong winds and resulting in hundreds of thousands of people being without power from the Gulf Coast northward. Winds gusting as high as 96 mph were measured near where the storm made landfall with gusts of 60-80 mph into New Orleans, according to AccuWeather