ABBEVILLE, La. (AP) Boarded windows and empty sidewalks made parts of Louisianas Acadiana region look like empty movie sets as major Hurricane Delta roared ever closer to the U.S. Gulf coast, apparently on track to smash into the same southwestern part of the state where Hurricane Laura blasted ashore six weeks ago.

Forecasters said Delta the 25th named storm of an unprecedented Atlantic hurricane season would likely crash ashore late Friday somewhere on southwest Louisianas coast. The question was whether it would remain at devastating Category 3 strength or drop just before landfall to a still extremely dangerous Category 2 storm with winds falling below 110 miles per hour (177 kph).

Either way, people in this battered coastal region were taking Delta seriously.

You can always get another house another car but not another life, said Hilton Stroder as he and his wife Terry boarded up their Abbeville home with plans to head to their sons house further east.

As Delta churned north-northwest at 12 mph (19 kph) on Thursday night, the National Hurricane Center had a hurricane warning in place for the Gulf Coast extending from High Island, Texas, to Morgan City, Louisiana.