On Sunday, Hurricane Ida hit Louisiana as a Category 4 storm with maximum sustained winds of 150 mph, according to the National Hurricane Center. Reports of the hurricane over-topping a levee in Plaquemines Parish prompted the National Weather Service to instruct people in the area to immediately seek higher ground and a flash flood warning is in effect for New Orleans. Entergy confirmed in a statement that due to “catastrophic damage” to the transmission system, all of Orleans City is without power – impacting over a million homes and businesses. At least one person, a 60-year-old man, died in Ascension Parish after a tree fell on his home.
The National Hurricane Center warned of a dangerous storm surges and flash floods for areas near and around New Orleans. It also said tornadoes were possible from southeast Louisiana to the western Florida Panhandle. Sunday was the 16th anniversary of the devasting Hurricane Katrina.
Over 200 people were in “imminent danger” in the town of Jean Lafitte and the unincorporated community of Lafitte, in Jefferson Parish, after a levee failed, the National Weather Service office in New Orleans said late Sunday, citing local law enforcement. New Orleans city’s sewer and water board said the power loss could affect a “very significant” number of its 84 sewer pumping stations. The board said that it had obtained backup generators for some but that “in order to prevent sewage backups, we have asked residents to limit water usage at home, thus decreasing the amount of wastewater we must remove.”
Heavy rain was expected throughout the day, with totals of up to 24 inches possible in parts of southeast Louisiana and Mississippi.