AKIPRESS.COM - Hurricane Nate was expected to strengthen on Saturday and make landfall, threatening the U.S. central Gulf Coast with strong winds and storm surges after killing at least 25 people in Central America, Reuters reported. 

Nate, a Category 1 hurricane, the weakest on a five-category scale used by meteorologists, was churning toward the central Gulf of Mexico as New Orleans evacuated some residents from areas outside its levee system.

“Nate is at our doorstep or will be soon,” New Orleans Mayor Mitch Landrieu said.

The greatest threat from this particular storm is not rain, but strong winds and storm surge, Landrieu said. The winds could cause significant power outages, and storm surges are projected to be six to nine feet (1.8 to 2.7 meters) high, he added.

“We have been through this many, many times. There is no need to panic,” Landrieu told a news conference.

The storm brushed by Mexico’s Yucatan peninsula, home to beach resorts such as Cancun and Playa del Carmen, as it headed north, the U.S. National Hurricane Center in Miami said.

Nate packed maximum sustained winds of 80 miles per hour (130 kmh) and was about 420 miles (675 km) south-southeast of the Mississippi river on Saturday as it was expected to strengthen, the NHC said.