Tropical Storm Francine nears hurricane strength as it approaches Gulf Coast. Louisianans are already closing the floodgates

(CNN) — Tropical Storm Francine is expected to strengthen into a hurricane Tuesday as it charges toward Louisiana where some communities were evacuating and slamming closed their floodgates in anticipation of the storm’s likely landfall there on Wednesday.Francine was about 400 miles from Cameron, Louisiana, Tuesday morning and packing maximum sustained winds of 65 mph – just 9 mph short of being a hurricane, according to the National Hurricane Center.Track the Storm: See the latest spaghetti models and other storm maps here.The strong tropical storm was dousing parts of far South Texas with a few inches of flooding rain and gusty winds Tuesday morning, but will pull away Tuesday and track northeast through the Gulf of Mexico where it will start to intensify once again after battling hostile conditions overnight.Forecasters expect the storm to strengthen significantly in the record-warm Gulf of Mexico and become a hurricane as early as Tuesday afternoon and then strengthen into a Category 2 hurricane by Wednesday afternoon.The storm could encounter more hostile conditions that could limit its strength before landfall, but it will not change the impact: Flooding rainfall, powerful winds and potentially life-threatening storm surge threaten to flood roads and cause extensive damage to...