Six people so far have died from Zeta's ravages, while leaving over 2.1 million consumers with power outage last Thursday after it struck the Gulf Coast then barreled towards land.
Zeta is the 27th named storm during this year's hurricane season in the Atlantic. It was classified as a storm Category 2 when it made landfall last Wednesday in Louisiana. By the afternoon of Thursday, it has weakened into a post-tropical cyclone.
Strong winds
Nonetheless, it still packed wind speeds of 50 mph at 5 PM ET last Thursday upon its approach to New Jersey's south tip. By Thursday night, it had moved out to the western Atlantic.
NHC also predicted that strong wind gusts could affect the eastern part of North Carolina and the southeast part of Virginia in the evening. Also, Mid-Atlantic states have been expected to have heavy rainfall on Thursday evening and possible flooding.
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Louisiana
The first mortality caused by Zeta occurred last Wednesday, as a downed electric line electrocuted a man 55 years old, according to the Louisiana governor's office, using information from the coroner of Orleans Parish.
By Thursday morning, the governor's deputy chief of staff, Christina Stephens, says that half a million Louisiana residents had no power, along with two-thirds of New Orleans residents.
Virginia
Meanwhile, in half of Virginia, the tropical storm was mainly experienced as a wind storm last Thursday. For the rest of the state, it was primarily a rainstorm. There were both wind and rain for Richmond, though it did not get the worst end of both.
The rain from Zeta was mainly in its north part, cutting a line along Galax up to Colonial Beach. Meanwhile, the most winds and lesser rains have been experienced in the south.
Power outages and uprooted trees were also experienced all over the state but are concentrated around Martinsville and Danville, which saw high winds and heavy rains. Metro Richmond had a lot of downed trees that affected most roads.
By mid-afternoon, the power supplier Dominion Energy said that over 8,000 customers were already without power in the Tri-Cities and Richmond region.
By the evening, however, the affected customers were down to less than a thousand. Appalachian Power also said that thousands of customers in the state's western areas had no power.
Meanwhile, flooding was mostly about high water in the rural roads. They were mainly confined to west Piedmont and areas that had two or more inches of rainfall. Minor floods occurred in some small rivers and streams.
READ ALSO: Hurricane Zeta: Fifth Storm Named That Hit Louisiana in 2020
High winds with less rain
The remnant rainfall from Zeta already started clearing from the Delmarva Peninsula within 24 hours since landfall occurred in Louisiana towards New Orleans, when it was still a hurricane Category 2.
Tropical weather was felt for six hours or less in central Virginia, aside from the precursor rainfall, which started on late Wednesday.
As a record occurrence, Zeta was the only Gulf hurricane that crossed Southwestern Virginia directly while still being a tropical storm instead of a remnant or depression.
Post-tropical
Zeta then got a "post-tropical" status by 2 PM as it was situated between Richmond and Charlottesville.
There were still problems such as tree remnants and other debris and power outage from the previous hurricanes and storms and the Gulf Coast's affected states.
READ NEXT: Hurricane Zeta Still a Tropical Storm, Rapidly Moving Through the Gulf of Mexico
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