- Hurricane Ida reached the US mainland at 11:55am EST on Sunday, swamping the barrier island of Grand Isle as landfall came just to the west at Port Fourchon, Louisiana
- Winds hit 150mph, with gusts of up to 165mph; The eye is 17 miles in diameter, bringing flash floods, thunder, lightning, life-threatening storm surges and tornados to areas along the Gulf Coast
- Ida maintained Category 4 winds for about six hours after making landfall at around 1pm EST on Sunday before it weakened to a Category 3 hurricane, with sustained winds of at least 120mph
- Port Fourchon is home to the Louisiana Offshore Oil Port, the country's largest privately owned crude oil terminal; Energy companies halted the production of 1.6 million oil barrels as storm approached on Friday
- Hurricane-strength winds extended 50 miles out from Ida's eye, forcing New Orleans to suspend emergency medical services as the storm crawled northwest at 13 miles per hour
- Louisiana utility officials said that 'catastrophic transmission damage' caused power to go out for all of New Orleans and Orleans Parish
- New Orleans and the parishes surrounding the city have been placed under a flash flood warning as of Sunday evening. The warnings will remain in effect until at least 11pm EST
- In Lafourche Parish, officials said their 911 line and the phone lines that service the Parish Sheriff Office have been knocked out; Local residents are advised to call 985-772-4810 or 985-772-4824
- A generator in ICU of Thibodaux Regional Health System in Lafourche Parish failed, forcing hospital staff to bag and transport patients on life support to another wing of the facility where there was still electricity
- Fears it could breach levees strengthened in the wake of Category 3 Hurricane Katrina, which devastated Louisiana and Mississippi 16 years ago on Sunday
Hurricane Ida tore through southern Louisiana on Sunday, knocking out power to all of Orleans Parish, including New Orleans and its nearly 400,000 residents as well as wide swaths of the region, while whipping up sustained winds of more than 150mph and tearing the roof off buildings.
The force of the storm was so strong that the Mississippi River was flowing in reverse, according to the Army Corps of Engineers. Some 22 barges docked on the river in Destrehan, a town in St. Bernard Parish, have broken loose, according to officials, posing a threat to the water intake and refinery infrastructure.
One hospital whose generators went out were forced to relocate ICU patients who had oxygen manually pumped into their bodies by doctors and nurses due to a lack of electricity.
Meanwhile, two parishes - Jefferson and St. Charles - have advised residents to boil water as a precaution after damage to water mains caused the system to lose pressure.
Some 750,000 residents were left without power as of Sunday evening.
Louisiana utility officials said that 'catastrophic transmission damage' caused power to go out for all of New Orleans and Orleans Parish.
Ida maintained Category 4 winds for about six hours after making landfall at around 1pm EST on Sunday before it weakened to a Category 3 hurricane.
- All of New Orleans is currently without power
- Hurricane Ida made landfall at 12:55 p.m. near Point Fourchon, Louisiana with winds tied for the most intense hurricane on record to strike Louisiana, at 150 mph.
- As of 7pm ET, Ida was a strong Category 3 storm with maximum sustained winds up to 125 MPH.
- Max sustained winds of 150 mph, tied with two other hurricanes for record landfall.
- Over half a million residents without power
- Surge could result in 12-16 feet of inundation; so far the surge has reached at least 4 to 7 feet in southeast Louisiana and coastal Mississippi, engulfing roads, homes, businesses and marinas. New Orleans’ flood protection system, bolstered by a $14.5 billion investment post-Katrina, will be tested by Ida’s surge and torrential rain.
- The storm could unload up to two feet of rain in parts of southeast Louisiana, causing severe flash flooding.
- Downed trees and widespread power outages could last weeks
- The core of the storm’s hurricane-force winds could pass through Houma and Baton Rouge and very close to New Orleans, producing structural damage, downed trees and widespread power outages, which could last weeks.
According to a c ompany spokesperson, the storm caused a "load imbalance to the company’s transmission and generation" that the company is "making every effort to identify and rectify.
(Update 1900ET): Hurricane Ida has weakened to a strong Category 3 storm with maximum sustained winds up to 125 MPH, and is currently located 30 miles SW of New Orleans, moving NW at 10 MPH.
A flash flood warning is in effect for New Orleans, with places like shell Beach has seeing over 8 feet of storm surge. Area in New Orleans such as Venetian Isles, Lake Catherine & Irish Bayou and are mandatory evacuation.
Power outages in Louisiana surge as Hurricane Ida rotates through the state, according to data from utility Entergy Corp. As of 6pm local time, some 538,173 customers were affected the utility said on its website. Outages stood at 133,722 half an hour after Ida made first landfall. Outages are currently affecting 31 of state’s 64 parishes, including those that are homes to oil refineries:
- East Baton Rouge Parish, where Exxon’s Baton Rouge refinery sits
- St. Charles Parish, home to Valero’s St. Charles and Shell’s Norco facilities
- St. Bernard Parish: PBF Chalmette and Valero’s Meraux plant
- St. John the Baptist Parish: Marathon Garyville
- Plaquemines Parish: Phillips 66’s Alliance plant
(Update 1615ET): New Orleans hit with 70mps wind gusts. With the northwestern core of Ida surging into New Orleans, winds have rapidly increased and rain is pouring down. For the next six hours or so, tropical-storm to hurricane-force winds will lash the city, causing widespread flooding, downed trees and power outages, which are already mounting. With peak wind gusts over 80 mph possible, some structural damage is also probable. New Orleans Lakefront Airport has reported a wind gust as high as 76 mph.
Social media photos and video have shown toppling trees and wires around the region and even part of a roof peeled off in the French Quarter. These dangerous conditions will probably worsen through the early evening and not abate significantly until around midnight.
Only two other storms on record have hit Louisiana with winds this powerful, Last Island Hurricane in 1856 and Hurricane Laura (2020).
"I feel sick to my stomach watching," National Hurricane Center forecaster Eric Blake tweeted on Sunday (via BBG). "This is a very sobering morning."
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