NEW ORLEANS — Ports from Texas to Louisiana shut down Wednesday ahead of advancing Hurricane Lili, a Category 4 storm packing 140 mile-per-hour winds that is expected to hit land tomorrow afternoon.

The ports of Port Arthur, Texas and Lake Charles, La. were closed this morning and the Port of Beaumont, Texas plans to close this afternoon after an arriving ship docks about 1 p.m.

In Texas, the Port of Galveston said the cruise ship Celebration was returning to port a day early, and was expected to dock about 2 p.m. to discharge passengers.

The hurricane is expected to make landfall Thursday at 3 p.m. Central time south of Lake Charles, La.

The Port of Lake Charles shut down to vessel traffic this morning after river pilots closed the ship channel at 7 a.m. Some trucks were being loaded and unloaded at terminals, but the port is expected to be completely shuttered by mid-afternoon. Two ships that are loading rice will remain in the port.

"Everybody south of Interstate 10 has been asked to leave," a harbor policeman said in Lake Charles. "That's about half the city."

At the Port of Houston, the ship channel is open, but the port is not accepting any new ships. Incoming traffic is restricted and anchorages are closed.

"Several ships have sought safe harbor here, while others have left to seek the open sea," said Felicia Griffin, port spokeswoman. "Ships that were due to arrive here in the next 24 hours have slowed their speed in order to remain in the Gulf of Mexico.

"Several ships are still unloading and they are working overtime to see if they can finish and depart before the weather turns bad," she said.

Terminals are open and operating and rail and truck traffic is moving, she said.

As of 3 p.m. local time Wednesday, Griffin said the port had no plans to completely shut down when Lili is expected to make landfall.

The Port of Freeport, Texas, which is more than 100 miles west of Lili's projected landfall, remained open today, with four ships working. Port Executive Director Pete Reixach said there were no plans to close Freeport unless Lili changed direction. "We are closely monitoring the situation," Reixach said. "But at this point, the weather people are only predicting tidal surges of one to two feet here."

Some 330,000 people in Texas' Jefferson and Orange counties - including Port Arthur and Beaumont - were told to evacuate Tuesday as forecasters warned that tidal surges up to 18 feet could pound the Sabine Pass area. Mandatory evacuations were ordered in southwest Louisiana south of Interstate 10.

Earlier this week, Lili churned through the Caribbean, killing seven in Jamaica and St. Vincent and driving thousands in Cuba from their homes. Lili is a more intense and more tightly organized hurricane than last week's Hurricane Isidore, which dumped more than a foot of rain from central Louisiana to Mobile, Ala.

A hurricane watch is in effect for the Gulf Coast from northern Texas to the mouth of the Mississippi River, meaning hurricane conditions are possible within 36 hours. A tropical storm watch is in effect from the Mississippi River to Pascagoula, Miss.

The small Port Fourchon near Grand Isle, La. closed this morning as all offshore drilling activity was halted. The U.S. Minerals Management Service said 121 platforms and 42 rigs have been evacuated. Some 16 percent of the nation's crude oil and 17 percent of the nation's natural gas comes from rigs and platforms that require access to the port.

The Louisiana Offshore Oil Port about 20 miles off the coast also has closed. It is the biggest U.S. crude oil import terminal, handling about 1 million barrels of crude a day, or 11 percent of all U.S. imports.

"We will be operationally shut down after noon," said Port of Beaumont Executive Director Chris Fisher. "We have five ships in port and are providing safe harbor for the Sabine pilots. We expect the pilots to close the ship channel about 3 p.m." Fisher said no ships have been diverted.

At Port Arthur, officials shut down all operations on Tuesday after city officials closed the floodwalls. "A 15-foot-high flood wall surrounds the city and when they close it, it cuts off rail access to the port in the front and to truck traffic in the back," said Orlando Ciramella, port trade development director. "We are inside the floodwall so all our cargo should be safe."

Port Arthur has seven breakbulk ships due to call between Tuesday and Saturday. Two are operated by Tramarco, and one each from Gearbulk, Star Shipping and Spliethoff. On Tuesday, the Coast Guard ordered only vessels that could be discharged within 24 hours be allowed to enter the port.

"They are all out in the Gulf waiting for the storm to pass," Ciramella said. Several petrochemical plants in the Port Arthur area are on emergency shutdown to allow employees and their families to leave the area.

By Janet Plume