Hurricane Nate: Storm powers across Gulf, toward US

The Category 1 storm was approaching the center of the Gulf early Saturday after barreling past Mexico's Yucatan Peninsula and the western tip of Cuba, forecasters said.

Nate was expected to reach the U.S. Gulf Coast by Saturday evening, they said, with New Orleans among the likely targets.

Louisiana's governor urged his state's residents to take Nate seriously, saying the storm “has the potential to do a lot of damage.”

“No one should take this storm lightly. It has already claimed the lives of at least 20 people,” Gov. John Bel Edwards said Friday. “We do want people to be very, very cautious and to not take this storm for granted.”