Top Stories, Weather

All Of New Orleans Without Power As Hurricane Ida Batters SE Louisiana

By News & Guts

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.”

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.”

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.

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. ”

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.”

 

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.”

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.