On September 4, the U.S. Weather Bureau advised residents that the storm was expected to strike land between Morgan City and Grand Isle around midnight, as its forward motion had increased to . The weather service also noted that abnormally high tides were expected from the Mississippi River to Pensacola, as the center was predicted to pass east of New Orleans and move to the west of Biloxi shortly before dawn. About 1,000 people left their homes in Terrebonne Parish and took shelter in a courthouse and school buildings in Houma. As winds increased, city officials in New Orleans ordered 2,000 people to evacuate from a wartime housing project into an auditorium for shelter. Offshore, oil drilling platforms and equipment were destroyed by high seas near Grand Isle. The island itself was cut off from the mainland after inundated roadways.