Four coastal states of the United States declared states of emergency as Hurricane Nate made landfall in southeast Louisiana on Saturday evening as a Category 1 storm, The New York Times reported.

The storm is now slower but moving north, the National Hurricane Center said in an update at 7 pm Central Time (5.30 am Indian Standard Time Sunday). The weather body reported that maximum speed of winds had come down to near 85 miles per hour. The storm will weaken rapidly after landfall, and will become a tropical depression within another day.

Areas near and east of where the storm made landfall stare at chances of “life-threatening storm surge flooding”, the NHC said earlier. A storm surge warning was in place for parts of Louisiana to parts of Florida.

This is the fourth major storm to hit the Caribbean Sea and the Gulf Coast of the United States in six weeks.

Counties along the central Gulf Coast have issued curfews and ordered evacuations.