Hurricane Ida’s devastating impact is being felt across Louisiana. More than 800,000 homes and businesses have lost power since the storm made landfall with winds around 150 mph. The entire city of New Orleans is blacked out due to what the power company calls “catastrophic transmission damage.”
@EntergyNOLA has confirmed that New Orleans has no power. The only power in the city is coming from generators. #Ida pic.twitter.com/9clSeFcz3T
— NOLA Ready (@nolaready) August 30, 2021
The @Entergy collapse – while we don't know much about it yet – is reminiscent of 2008's Hurricane Gustav, when the company's transmission lines into N.O. (and elsewhere) failed catastrophically. 13 of 14 lines bringing power to the city failed then: https://t.co/N1rjEVyBuu
— Gordon Russell (@GordonRussell1) August 30, 2021
Just before noon, the eye of the category 4 storm came ashore near Port Fourchon, Louisiana, which is just west of New Orleans. A second landfall occurred a few hours later southwest of Galliano, Louisiana. By then it had lost a little steam but still had sustained winds around 145 mph.
Louisiana Gov. John Bel Edwards said, “Hurricane Ida is one of the strongest storms to ever hit Louisiana.” And the National Weather Service warned that “catastrophic impacts can be expected.”
Winds gusting over 100 mph in Houma, LA. This is nothing compared to eye wall. Hunker down. This is going to be really bad @RadarOmega pic.twitter.com/KwGovX2H5F
— Reed Timmer, PhD (@ReedTimmerUSA) August 29, 2021
The storm tore a path of destruction throughout southeastern Louisiana. Damage includes roofs ripped off, trees down, and widespread flooding. There are also reports of collapsed homes and buildings.
The powerful winds and flooding from Hurricane Ida are very evident in this footage from La Place, Louisiana. The sound of the wind is terrifying! #LAwx pic.twitter.com/YizPbR4aHd
— WeatherNation (@WeatherNation) August 30, 2021
An entire building has just collapsed in New Orleans. These pictures were taken less than 2 hours apart, the first at 5pm and the other at 6:50pm. #HurricaneIda pic.twitter.com/vlNVLm46le
— Laila (@StuvikLaila) August 29, 2021
Pretty extensive damage in LaFourche Parish. Some areas have almost every home damaged. These apartments are in Lockport. #HurricaneIda #lawx pic.twitter.com/ZNFZ28wD90
— Brian Emfinger (@brianemfinger) August 30, 2021
In Grand Isle, the anemometer, the gauge that measures wind speed, broke when winds hit 148 mph. Hurricane-force gusts are being felt as far as 50 miles out from the center of the storm. Highway 1, the only outlet to and from the Island, is under several feet of water. According to WWL-TV, “There have been calls for rescue on Grand Isle, but because of deteriorating weather conditions and flooding on Highway 1, Parish President Cynthia Lee Sheng says the people still on the island — about 40 people — will need to wait it out until the storm passes. ”
Video footage from Grand Isle as Hurricane Ida makes landfall pic.twitter.com/dLijXbGLc4
— wdsu (@wdsu) August 29, 2021
The Washington Post reports, “Those peak winds mean Ida tied Hurricane Laura, which struck Louisiana a year ago, and the Last Island hurricane in 1856 as the most intense hurricane on record to strike the state.”
The National Weather Service in New Orleans writes, “Life-threatening storm surge is impacting most of the coast already. Surge along coastal LA west of the MS river are unreliable at this time as they are likely gone.”
Hwy 90 in New Orleans Wast outside the levee protection. #hurricaneida pic.twitter.com/pJBRIopepP
— WxChasing- Brandon Clement (@bclemms) August 29, 2021
The president has already issued an emergency declaration for Louisiana and Mississippi, “Specifically, FEMA is authorized to identify, mobilize, and provide at its discretion, equipment and resources necessary to alleviate the impacts of the emergency.”
Thanks to the hard work of @FEMA, we’ve pre-positioned resources, equipment, and response teams to respond to Hurricane Ida. That includes more than 2,400 FEMA employees, millions of meals and liters of water, generators, search and rescue teams, and over 100 ambulances. pic.twitter.com/oPNBSj4hVS
— President Biden (@POTUS) August 30, 2021
Late Sunday Ida lost some of its wind speed but was still dangerous as it moved inland as a Category 3 storm with winds of 120 mph. Storm surge remains a great threat and flooding is still a major concern.
Watch more from NBC above.