Francine 295 miles from Louisiana coast
Hurricane Francine is expected to make landfall southwest of New Orleans as a Category 1 hurricane on Wednesday afternoon.
As of early Wednesday, Francine was 295 miles southwest of Morgan City, Louisiana, heading northeast at 10 mph.
Data collected by Air Force Reserve Hurricane Hunter aircraft indicated that the storm strengthened in the early hours of Wednesday, with maximum sustained winds close to 85 mph -- up from 75 mph on Tuesday night.
![](https://i.abcnewsfe.com/a/066c238f-06f3-44ef-ad0a-75ba93f1be12/francine-embed_1726047825446_hpEmbed_1x1.jpg)
-ABC News' Melissa Griffin