Zeta heads out to sea

Officials blame the latest hurricane for at least six deaths. Zeta, now a tropical storm, made landfall on Wednesday and canceled or delayed classes and affected some polling places along the Gulf Coast and in the Carolinas on Thursday. The wind knocked out power for up to 2.6 million people across seven states, including to more than 2.6 million homes and businesses in Atlanta.

How bad are things on the ground? Louisiana Gov. John Bel Edwards said the barrier island of Grand Isle seemed to suffer the worst with three breached levees. Three of the deaths were in Georgia, where the storm downed trees just in time for the morning rush hour. By Thursday afternoon, Zeta moved through North Carolina and Virginia at 53 mph and was expected to head back out to sea somewhere near Delaware and New Jersey.

Dig deeper: Read Bonnie Pritchett’s report about how the coronavirus pandemic has limited the number of volunteers available to respond to disasters like Zeta.