Ida will be worst hurricane to hit Louisiana since 1850s: Biden, Governor warn residents
Hurricane Ida sparks travel chaos as ALL Sunday flights at New Orleans airport are canceled and fleeing Gulf Coast residents create hours-long traffic jams as the Category 4 storm barrels down on Louisiana
Category 4 Hurricane Ida is set to hit the state on SundayThousands fled the coast, causing miles-long traffic jams and forcing all New Orleans flights to be cancelled New Orleans Mayor LaToya Cantrell and other local authorities urged those who could to evacuateShe said those who couldn’t need to be prepared and sheltered in place by midnight tonight The National Weather Service said that Hurricane Ida, set to make landfall in the US on Sunday, will be ‘life-altering’ and cause ‘catastrophic damage’ to infrastructure with 140MPH winds Five thousand National Guardsmen have been deployed to Louisiana as the state was placed under a state of emergency and many residents evacuated Ten to 15 feet of rainfall could cover areas around the mouth of the Mississippi River, and lower levels could effect the coastlines of Mississippi and AlabamaTornadoes, widespread power outages and inland flooding from the predicted torrential downpour are expected to dot the regionOff the coast, US Oil and gas companies halted more than 1.6 million barrels of oil production Friday as Hurricane Ida cut through the Gulf of Mexico – more than pre-Hurricane Katrina
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With Hurricane Ida intensifying over the Gulf of Mexico Saturday and barreling towards the Gulf Coast, thousands of fleeing residents clogged highways as they raced inland, and the New Orleans airport cancelled all of Sunday’s inbound and departing flights.
As of Saturday night, Ida was whipping winds of 105 mph and is about 145 miles southeast of the mouth of the Mississippi River, according to the National Hurricane Center.
Louisiana Governor John Bel Edwards said that the storm will be ‘one of the strongest hurricanes to hit anywhere in Louisiana since at least the 1850s.’
Forecasters predict it could make landfall by Sunday afternoon or Sunday evening as an ‘extremely dangerous’ Category 4 storm on the five-step Saffir-Simpson scale with winds of 140 mph.
It’s predicted to cause heavy downpours and a tidal surge that could plunge most of the Louisiana shoreline under several feet of water.
‘We’re going to catch it head-on,’ Bebe McElroy told the Associated Press as she prepared to leave home in the coastal Louisiana village of Cocodrie. ‘I’m just going around praying, saying, “Dear Lord, just watch over us.”‘
The eye of the storm becomes clearer Saturday night as Hurricane Ida heads towards the US Gulf Coast
This is the latest radar image – seen at 9pm East Coast time – of Hurricane Ida
Like traffic jams on highways surrounding the city, TSA security lines at New Orleans’ Louis Armstrong International Airport on Saturday were massive. The New Orleans airport announced on Saturday night that all Sunday flights are cancelled
Traffic moves bumper to bumper along I-10 west as residents arrive into Texas from the Louisiana border ahead of Hurricane Ida in Orange, Texas
Heavy traffic clogs Interstate 10 Westbound through Kenner out of New Orleans Saturday as residents outside the city’s protective levees are ordered to evacuate, and those within are encouraged to do so of their own volition
Ida was poised to strike Louisiana 16 years to the day after Hurricane Katrina devastated the Mississippi and Louisiana coasts. A Category 3 storm, Katrina was blamed for 1,800 deaths and caused levee breaches and catastrophic flooding in New Orleans, which took years to recover.
‘We’re not the same state we were 16 years ago,’ Louisiana Gov. John Bel Edwards said Saturday, pointing to a federal levee system that’s seen major improvements since Katrina swamped New Orleans in 2005.
‘This system is going to be tested. The people of Louisiana are going to be tested. But we are resilient and tough people. And we’re going to get through this.’
Edwards said 5,000 National Guard troops were being staged in 14 parishes for search and rescue efforts with high-water vehicles, boats and helicopters. And 10,000 linemen were on standby to respond to electrical outages.
Jackson, Mississippi Mayor Chokwe Antar Lumumba told CNN during a TV interview at 11pm that he’s most concerned about how city’s infrastructure will hold up and said the city’s hospitals are already filled because of the COVID-19 surge brought on by the ‘Delta’ variant.
A business owner on Bourbon Street boards up the windows of his restaurant
Men place plywood in front of a store in preparation for Hurricane Ida, in New Orleans
Bourbon Street is boarded-up Saturday night and the typically lively area of New Orleans looks like a ghost town
For those who will be weathering the storm were reminded by President Joe Biden not to forego COVID precautions: ‘If you have to move to shelter, make sure you wear a mask and try to keep some distance – we’re still facing the highly contagious delta variant as well.’
New Orleans Mayor Latoya Cantrell urged residents reminded residents during mid-day Saturday press conference that he local COVID surge has city hospitals at full capacity.
She called on those planning to flee from the ‘life-altering’ hurricane to ‘do so immediately’ and for those planning to ride out the storm to finish their preparations and shelter in place as quickly as possible.
‘This is our time, your time, to prepare yourselves now. This is it,’ she said.
‘Check on your neighbors, your friends, of course your family, assist them when needed… in Hurricane Katrina, we learned that we are all first responders.’
Members on the 256th Infantry Brigade Combat Team of the Louisiana National Guard stage at the Ernest N. Morial Convention Center in New Orleans, Louisiana on Saturday
National Guard is ready for emergency situations at the Ernest N. Morial Convention Center in New Orleans
Two people walk by a boarded up and sand bagged business in the French Quarter’s Bourbon Street, the day before Hurricane Ida is scheduled to make landfall in New Orleans
Alabama Governor Kay Ivey and Louisiana Governor John Bel Edwards had a call with Biden on Friday afternoon to synchronize federal and local storm preparation and response plans.
Also on the call was FEMA Administrator Deanna Criswell, Homeland Security Advisor Liz Sherwood-Randall and Director of Intergovernmental Affairs Julie Rodriguez.
FEMA is pre-positioning food, water, generators and other resources in the at-risk region, the president’s office said Saturday.
‘I know that tomorrow, for many people, is a very difficult anniversary. It is the 16th anniversary of Hurricane Katrina. I’m also aware that it is very painful to think about another powerful storm like Hurricane Ida making landfall on that anniversary,’ Edwards said at a press conference on Saturday afternoon.
‘Every storm is different. They all bring their own challenges, but I also want you to know that we’re not the same state we were 16 years ago.’
The Governor said that ‘many, many people are heeding the evacuation orders, both mandatory and voluntary.’
Meanwhile, the president implored local authorities to reach out for federal assistance, should they need it, before the projected hurricane makes landfall.
‘I need to know everything you think we need to do,’ he said at a press conference just before 2 pm. ‘If you haven’t gotten the authority for it, tell me now, we’ll get it done.’
‘Thank you, thank you thank you, everything that you’re doing to prepare for this dangerous storm is going to mitigate the impact and potential…. Disastrous results that will [effect] so many people in the region.’
Alabama Governor Kay Ivey and Louisiana Governor John Bel Edwards shared a call with Biden on Friday afternoon to synchronize federal and local storm preparation and response plans
New Orleans Mayor Latoya Cantrell urged residents reminded residents in an earlier press conference that, due to a local COVID surge – hospitals in the city are already at full capacity.
Terrebonne, Lafourche, Plaquemines, Orleans, St. Charles, Port Fourchon and St. Mary Parish all mandated evacuations for some or all of their residents, and New Orleans employers let their employees go home by 6pm so they have adequate time to seek shelter.
Ida was a tropical depression just two days earlier but it strengthened so quickly that New Orleans officials said there was no time to organize a mandatory evacuation of the city’s 390,000 residents.
New Orleans Mayor LaToya Cantrell said the city did not have sufficient time to mandate evacuations inside the levee system, or to open up additional lanes of traffic, known as contraflow, to allow more people to evacuate.
An evacuation of that magnitude requires coordination with the state and neighboring locales so that inbound lanes on are highways can be converted to shunt traffic away from the city.
Even without the mandatory evacuation, traffic on Interstate 10 out of New Orleans was heavy or at a standstill throughout the day Saturday. Roads were congested as early as 4 am.
This is what Interstate 10 looked like as early as 4:30am Saturday
Boats, trailers and RVs line Louisiana Highway 46 as owners race to get them within the area of levee protection on Saturday before Hurricane Ida hits
Gas is running out at many stations throughout Louisiana and areas in the projected path of Hurricane Ida
Reports indicate many more heeded the officials’ warnings and vacated the area, but those who chose to hunker down in New Orleans and the surrounding areas along the coast boarded up their homes and businesses and made preparations.
The city’s emergency planners – simultaneously traumatized and prepared for the worst by Hurricane Katrina – have promised a ‘very robust, very quick, post-storm evacuation.’
Inundated with surrendered pets, Louisiana’s Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals is also at full capacity, and will similarly transition to ‘post-storm operations.’
After Hurricane Katrina in 2005, 70 percent of homes were damaged to some degree, and more than 1,800 people died.
Ten to 15 feet of water is expected to collect around the mouth of the Mississippi River, the National Hurricane Center said, and lower levels of flooding could extend as far east as the coastlines of adjacent Mississippi and Alabama.
Baton Rouge Mayor Sharon West Broome signed an emergency disaster declaration, and said her city had preemptively stationed sand and sandbags at eight strategic locations as the storm approached.
White House press secretary Jen Psaki said on Friday that FEMA will send nearly 150 medical personnel and almost 50 ambulances to the Gulf Coast to assist strained hospitals.
A Morgan City man and his neighbors board up his window in preparation for the impending Category 4 hurricane
Businesses throughout New Orleans’ French Quarter are boarded up today in preparation for the impending historically devastating storm
Crews are rushing today to cover windows with plywood to reduce the impact of menacing Hurricane Ida, which is forecasted to reach New Orleans tomorrow
A St. Charles Parish man boards up his home on Saturday as Hurricane Ida approaches New Orleans. The storm is predicted to cause ‘catastrophic’ damage to infrastructure and buildings
A New Orleans man checks the lock on his front gate after moving his cars off the road on Saturday in preparation for Hurricane Ida’s arrival
A Walmart in New Orleans is pictured here with nearly-depleted stocks after city officials told residents to be prepared for prolonged power outages, and asked elderly residents to consider evacuating
Bars, businesses and restaurants are all boarding up in New Orleans’ French Quarter in preparation for Hurricane Ida’s projected Sunday landfall
‘Extremely life-threatening inundation of 9 feet or greater’ has been predicted from Morgan City, Louisiana to the Mississippi coast. ‘Potentially catastrophic wind damage’ is forecasted, too, and the NHC said today that ‘actions to protect life and property should be rushed to completion today in the warning area’
Terrebonne Parish officials also told everyone to evacuate, WWL-TV reported.
‘If you can leave on your own, please leave on your own,’ Parish President Gordon Dove said. ‘We are the bullseye by every indication, of everything we have found.’
Heavy rainfall and flooding have already began to affect Mississippi ahead of Ida’s suspected landfall.
Hailey DeLaune of Gulf told Reuters today that she and her fiancée spent Friday evening amassing provisions and boarding up the windows of his house in Gulfport, Mississippi.
‘Hurricanes have always been part of my life,’ said Delaune, a high school theology teacher who was born during 1992’s Category 5 Hurricane Andrew. ‘You just run through your list and hope for the best.’
Shelves were seen low on stock at a Walmart on Tchoupitolas in New Orleans, Louisiana ahead of Hurricane Ida on Friday. Breads, meats, snacks, canned meats, cases of water, chips and fans are in short supply.
Shoppers at Costco in New Orleans stocked up on supplies like bottles of water and toilet paper ahead of Hurricane Ida. Lines at gas stations flowed into the streets and an Exxon in New Orleans has already closed its pumps because it is out of gas.
City officials said residents need to be prepared for prolonged power outages, and asked elderly residents to consider evacuating. Arnold said the city could be under high winds for about ten hours.
A mandatory evacuation for those living outside the city’s protective levee system has been ordered by New Orleans Mayor LaToya Cantrell, and those within the levees have been encouraged to do so voluntarily if they are able
Residents line up at the Dryades YMCA to pick up sandbags from a city-run sandbag distribution location in anticipation of Hurricane Ida’s landfall in New Orleans. A state of emergency has been declared there, and residents have been urged to complete their preparations for the storm today
A New Orleans resident hefts sandbags from a city-run distribution center as residents are told to hurry their preparations for the incoming hurricane
Louisiana Governor John Bel Edwards to begin preparation and hunker down – he was prompted by the approaching storm to declare a state of emergency on Thursday
Crews from Southeast Louisiana’s Flood Protection Authority East close a flood gate at the Bonnabel Boat Launch on Saturday in preparation for Hurricane Ida’s projected Sunday landfall
At Governor Edwards’ request, Biden issued a pre-landfall federal emergency declaration on Friday, which authorized the Department of Homeland Security and FEMA to begin coordinating disaster relief efforts.
‘Nobody was out there shrimping today, opening day of shrimp season,’ said George Barisich, a shrimper, to CBS News. ‘So that ought to tell you. When I got in this morning, late last night… about 75, 80 percent of the boats already left.’
Meteorologist Steve Bowen, head of global catastrophe insight at the risk and consulting firm Aon, said the area that was about to get hit is especially vulnerable, with large swaths of industries that could cause environmental damages as well as homes that still have tarps instead of roofs from multiple storms in 2020.
‘It’s not just the coastal impact. It’s not just New Orleans,’ Bowen said. ‘We’re certainly looking at potential losses well into the billions.’
On Friday, Ida smashed into Cuba’s small Isle of Youth, off the southwestern end of the Caribbean island nation, toppling trees and tearing roofs from dwellings.
Jamaica was flooded by heavy rains, and there were landslides after the passage of the storm. Many roads were impassable, forcing some residents to abandon their homes.
Ida, the ninth named storm and fourth hurricane of the 2021 Atlantic hurricane season, may well exceed the strength of Hurricane Laura, the last Category 4 storm to strike Louisiana, by the time it makes landfall, forecasters said.
A man using plastic against heavy rainfall caused by Hurricane Ida in Cuba on Friday walks on a road leading to Batabano in the Mayabeque province. After battering Cuba on Friday with 80 mile per hour winds, Ida began churning northwest this morning – it is expected to reach the US this Sunday, 16 years to the date of Hurricane Katrina’s landfall in 2005
A car makes its way over a road in Cuba covered with rain by Hurricane Ida on Friday. The storm shows ‘no signs of weakening’ before it reaches US shores, according to the National Weather Service
Cars traverse flooding roads in Cuba on Friday as Hurricane Ida passes through
The region was devastated in August 2005 by Hurricane Katrina, which killed more than 1,800 people.
Many roads were impassable, forcing some residents to abandon their homes.
Hurricane Ida was 105 miles west of Havana and traveling northwest at 15MPH by late Friday night.
As the storm plowed into Cuba on Friday night, the National Weather Service issued a slurry of alarming tweets warning that Hurricane Ida shows ‘no signs on weakening.’
‘If Ida maintains a good inner core it will intensify quickly as it enters the Gulf. DON’T UNDERESTIMATE THIS! If you are asked to evacuate, LEAVE or you’re putting your life in danger!’ the NWS asserted.
In another tweet, the NWS wrote: ‘The time to act is NOW. Hurricane Ida is now forecast to make landfall as a category 4 hurricane. This will bring SIGNIFICANT impacts to Southern Louisiana and Southern Mississippi. No major changes to the track at this time, moved just a touch to the east.’
Hurricane Ida is expected to make landfall 16 years to the day of Hurricane Katrina. Pictured here, pumps put in place by the Army Corps of Engineers divert floodwaters from New Orleans’ 17th Street Canal into Lake Pontcharta after the 2005 Hurricane
‘Along with the change to a Category 4 landfall we also now have upgraded to a Hurricane WARNING for parts of southern Louisiana and southern Mississippi. Damaging winds are expected with Ida and could reach the coast by Saturday night.’
The agency said that a storm surge warning is also now in effect for the likelihood of life-threatening storm surge in some areas of southeaster Louisiana and coastal Mississippi – while a storm surge watch is in effect for the potential of life-threatening storm surge for outer areas.
In its biggest weekly gain this year, oil prices shot up by two percent on Friday.
As the storm tore through the Gulf of Mexico on Thursday and Friday, energy companies halted the production of 1.6 million oil barrels and airlifted workers from 90 offshore facilities on Friday and the storm ground through the site of 17 percent of the nation’s oil production.
Production cutbacks have exceeded those spurred on in 2005 by Hurricane Katrina, the cataclysmic storm that devastated Louisiana, killed 1,800 and destroyed more than 850,000 homes. Preceding the earlier storm, supplies were cut by 1.53 million barrels per day; Hurricane Delta reduced the supply by 1.69 million each day.
