All New Orleans without electricity and water to the roof: Hurricane Ida could break records of the legendary storm Katrina

Hurricane Ida made landfall late Sunday night, August 29, in Port Fourchon, Louisiana, exactly 16 years after Hurricane Katrina, the catastrophic hurricane that killed more than 1800 people on the Gulf Coast in 2005. Writes about it The Guardian.

Photo: Shutterstock

The hurricane hit Louisiana as a Category 4 storm, hitting the coast at 150 miles (241 km) per hour. It has almost reached Category 5, which starts at 157 miles (252 km) per hour.

Edition CNN claims that after reaching land, the hurricane held the 4th category for 6 hours. Since then, it has weakened to a tropical storm. In total, as a hurricane, Ida spent 16 hours on land.

US President Joe Biden declared the event a major disaster and ordered federal aid to help local government recovery efforts.

The full extent of the damage remains unclear. At night, residents were told to evacuate south of New Orleans, following reports of the collapse of the dam. Another dam break also occurred in the Lafite and Jean-Lafite areas, where residents were urged to immediately seek safe places at altitude.

Hurricane Ida going through downtown New Orleans
by TYR $ pic.twitter.com/t5uCt7T8Ma

- Black Hole (@konstructivizm) August 30

Lafourche County Sheriff's Office in southern Louisiana reports "catastrophic damage." Cellular and phone lines are down in many areas, including 911, the statement said on Twitter.

Rescue operations

The Louisiana National Guard said on Monday that they began search and rescue operations after Hurricane Ida caused catastrophic damage to the entire state.

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When day dawned, authorities set up teams to conduct search and rescue operations in the aftermath of Hurricane Ida. According to Louisiana-based Jefferson County President Cynthia Lee Sheng, credible reports paint a dire picture.

Drone captures video of the heavily damaged apartments in Lockport, LA. #HurricaneIda

pic.twitter.com/2z9Pe844s6

- Election Wizard (@ElectionWiz) August 30

“Unfortunately, the worst-case scenario seems to have happened,” Li Sheng said, adding that some houses were flooded with water that “exceeded chest height. It reaches the top of the roof."

Tornado danger

As Ida slowly drifts northward, this creates favorable atmospheric conditions for the formation of tornadoes. These conditions will be most ideal on the right side of the storm, according to CNN meteorologist Hayley Brink.

The Storm Prediction Center reports that there is little risk of a potential tornado over parts of the Central Gulf Coast until Tuesday morning, August 31.

Tornado warnings have been issued for parts of Mississippi, Alabama and Florida.

Some hospitals suffered significant damage

A power outage forced a Louisiana hospital to relocate patients to other sections.

During the peak of Hurricane Ida on Sunday, Regional Health System Hospital Thibodeau suffered a disruption. When the power went out, two of the hospital's five generators that served the intensive care areas automatically stopped working.

Roof of Rod's Superstore in Houma, Louisiana vs. Hurricane Ida?️ pic.twitter.com/NaIhpIrsF6

- Strictly  (@StrictlyChristo) August 30

As the teams began troubleshooting, hospital staff resorted to drastic measures to be able to provide critical care to patients, including COVID-19 patients.

It was not the only hospital affected in the region. For example, two Ochsner Health hospitals had roof leaks and dozens of patients in those facilities had to be relocated.

Power outages and floods

Energy company Entergy has confirmed that electricity has been cut throughout New Orleans. Due to Hurricane Ida, the main power tower fell into the river.

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The company said it "will likely take several days to determine the extent of the damage to the grid, and much longer to restore power transmission to the region."

In addition, Jefferson County Director of Emergency Management Joseph Valiente said power lines fell into the Mississippi River after an electric tower collapsed during Hurricane Ida.

“We know there are power lines in the river, we know it fell toward the river, but we don't know if part of the structure is actually in the river itself,” Valiente said.

The crumpled Entergy transmission tower by River Road in Bridge City. Local volunteer firemen said it collapsed iver a two-hour period Sunday night as #HurricaneIda battered the area. /one @NOLAnews #nola #energytwitter pic.twitter.com/IqBXVtvjuZ

- Anthony McAuley (@ AnthonyMcAuley2) August 30

“We just couldn’t get to this place because it’s difficult to get to because of the strong wind and rain,” he said.

More than a million customers in Louisiana and Mississippi were left without electricity, according to PowerOutage.US. Wikipedia during Hurricane Katrina, only 800 remained in the dark). The vast majority of these are located in Louisiana.

Power outages are expected to continue to escalate as the storm approaches.

The National Weather Service warns people are trapped in floods in Laplace, Louisiana.

“There are reports of people trapped in homes in LaPlace,” the NWS said in its flash flood emergency alert. — Water completely surrounds the hotel. People are asking for help,” the message says.

After the passage of Ida, 6 to 12 inches (15-30 cm) of rain fell, and there may be another 4 to 6 inches (10-15 cm) in the area.

WATCH: Before and after footage from Fire Station # 12 in Delacroix, Louisiana. #HurricaneIda

pic.twitter.com/CkZ7tOvUGc

- Election Wizard (@ElectionWiz) August 30

According to the mayor, residents of Jean-Lafitte south of New Orleans were forced to climb onto their rooftops as the dams in that city were overflowing.

“I’ve never seen water like this in my life,” Mayor Tim Kerner Jr. said. “It just hit us in the worst possible way, and it was such a bad storm that it completely devastated us.”

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First death

The Asancion County Sheriff's Office wrote on its Facebook page that the man was killed after being hit by a falling tree.

“Shortly after 20:30 p.m., officers received reports of a citizen possibly being injured by a fallen tree at a residence off Highway 621 in Prairieville. Officers arrived on scene and confirmed the victim was deceased,” the sheriff’s office wrote.

This is the Karnofsky Shop — a historic place. Louis Armstrong worked here and bought his first trumpet here. Collapsed during #HurricaneIda. pic.twitter.com/FsL4B1LbI8

- Jack Royer (@JackRoyer) August 30

What's next

The center of Ida is expected to move further inland through southeast Louisiana and then to southwest Mississippi.

Ida is forecast to move through central and northeast Mississippi during the afternoon and evening of August 30 and through the Tennessee Valley on Tuesday.

The threat of excessive rainfall will be over the Central Gulf Coast and the Tennessee Valley. More than 50 million people are in the flash flood warning zone from the Gulf Coast to the northeast.

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