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Ida has weakened to a tropical storm as it moves through Louisiana. The storm has brought life-threatening flash flooding to the state.

Ida has weakened to a tropical storm as it moves through Louisiana. The storm has brought life-threatening flash flooding to the state.
1 min ago

Jefferson Parish deputies are back on the streets patrolling

From CNN’s Amanda Watts

Deputies in Jefferson Parish “have returned to the streets and are currently patrolling and trying to determine the accessibility of our roadways,” according to a post on Facebook.

As daylight breaks in the region, the Jefferson Parish Sheriff’s Office is asking “everyone to remain sheltered at this time as unnecessary travel is dangerous given the current roadway conditions.”

At least one bridge in Lafitte suffered damage from Ida and residents should not drive on it, the parish said.

“The Kerner Swing Bridge in Lafitte was hit by a barge,” the post says. “We do not believe it is structurally safe.”

The Sheriff’s Office says “multiple cellular service providers” are having a hard time routing 911 calls.

Late on Sunday, the Jefferson Parish Water Department announced a boil water advisory for the entire East Bank of Jefferson Parish, after a loss of pressure in the distribution system, their Facebook page said.

5 min ago

Hurricane Ida was so strong it reversed the Mississippi River’s direction of flow

From CNN’s Brandon Miller

Storm surge and strong winds from Hurricane Ida stopped the flow of the Mississippi River near New Orleans on Sunday and actually caused it to reverse.

The US Geological Survey says that it is “extremely uncommon.”

Ida made landfall near Port Fourchon, Louisiana, early Sunday afternoon as an extremely dangerous Category 4 hurricane with winds of 150 mph, the National Hurricane Center (NHC) said. The hurricane arrived on the 16th anniversary of the historically devastating Hurricane Katrina.

“I remember, off hand, that there was some flow reversal of the Mississippi River during Hurricane Katrina, but it is extremely uncommon,” Scott Perrien, a supervising hydrologist with the USGS Lower Mississippi Gulf Water Science Center in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, told CNN.

Perrien noted that the river level on Sunday rose about seven feet due to storm surge pushing up the river at the USGS gauge, located in Belle Chasse, about 20 miles south of New Orleans in southeastern Louisiana.

“During that time, the flow of the river slowed from about 2 feet per second down to about half a foot per second in the other direction,” Perrien said.

Perrien pointed out that the gauge does not measure the flow of the entire river, so it is possible that the deeper portions of the river did not reverse flow directions.

Read the full story here.

8 min ago

FEMA administrator: There could not have been a worse path for this storm

Assessment teams await daylight to go on the ground to inspect damages caused by Ida, but significant impact is already expected, FEMA administrator Deanne Criswell said.

“It remained a Category 4 for several hours over the southern parts of Louisiana. So they just got the impacts from the winds, from the significant and intense rainfall as well as that storm surge for several hours,” Criswell told CNN.

“I don’t think there could have been a worse path for this storm. It’s going to have some significant impacts. We’re already seeing the power outages across the area and the threat isn’t over,” she added.

As Ida moves as a Category 1 storm into Mississippi, Tennessee and West Virginia, Criswell said there’s still going to be significant rainfall, and people need to remain aware of the risks.

Meanwhile, “widespread structural damage” has already been reported, with a number of buildings that may have collapsed, hospitals running on generator power, and some people stranded, she said Monday.

“My initial reports are the levees around New Orleans did what they were supposed to do, but that intense rainfall, that’s going to create a lot of urban flooding across many of the jurisdictions — New Orleans, Baton Rouge and all of the different localities in between. ” Criswell said. “It’s going to strain the drainage system. That with the debris, so it’s going to take a while for some of that to clear up.”

21 min ago

“If you are planning on sight-seeing, don’t,” warn parish officials

From CNN’s Amanda Watts

Officials in a parish badly affected by Hurricane Ida are warning people not to go out sight-seeing as the sun comes up.

Ida ripped through the area and the parish has “received numerous calls of fallen trees on homes and roadways,” reads a post on the St. Tammany Parish Facebook page.

Once the sun comes up teams will start “assessing and clearing the roadways,” the post says.

“If you are planning on sight-seeing, don’t. If you are on the roadways, you will be preventing us from clearing the roads safely and efficiently,” St. Tammany adds. 

And Slidell Police Department said their roof has been “compromised” due to Ida.

“You may have heard reports of the Slidell Police Department’s roof being compromised and water pouring into several offices. This is true, but has been temporarily repaired. We are OK,” reads a Facebook post from the force.

The department said overnight they received several reports of “downed trees and power lines, trees that have fallen on to houses, and people asking to be rescued from their homes,” and posted several photos showing large trees down across roadways.

Due to power outages across the parish, all of St. Tammany is under a boil water advisory.

24 min ago

National Weather Service New Orleans urges residents to “shelter in place”

The National Weather Service in New Orleans tweeted a long list of flooded street this morning, urging residents to “stay sheltered in place unless you absolutely have to travel.”

Hurricane Ida slammed Louisiana with devastating force as a Category 4 hurricane Sunday. The entire city of New Orleans is currently without power after it was hit with “catastrophic transmission damage,” the city office said in a Tweet Sunday night. 

Entergy Louisiana said some of its customers could be without power for weeks. And the storm surge of up to 15 feet and winds as strong as 150 mph could leave parts of southeast Louisiana “uninhabitable for weeks or months,” according to a local hurricane statement from the NWS New Orleans.

27 min ago

Deputies in Louisiana’s Lafourche Parish “searching for those who need help”

From CNN’s Gregory Lemos

In the wake of Hurricane Ida, the Lafourche Parish Sheriff’s Office (LPSO) said it has deployed its deputies “in full force” to find people in need of help.

“Hurricane Ida has caused catastrophic damage in Lafourche Parish. Deputies have been deployed in full force today responding to emergencies, searching for those who need help, and helping clear roads,” the department said in a tweet Monday.

According to LPSO, cell phone service and phone lines remain out of service, including 911 and the Sheriff’s Office.

“Thousands of you have not heard from loved ones in many hours and are concerned about the welfare. We are spread out throughout the parish seeking to find anyone in need of help,” LPSO said.

The tweet acknowledged those who evacuated are likely anxious to get home to survey the damage and assist other impacted residents.

“Today is not that day. Parish officials will be making an announcement about reentry in the near future, but it will not be today,” LPSO said.

A curfew remains in effect “and will be strictly enforced,” the sheriff’s office added.

36 min ago

Hospitals damaged and roadways closed after Hurricane Ida hit Louisiana Sunday

From CNN’s Madeline Holcombe

Montegut and Bourg firefighters inspect downed trees on a road in Bourg, Louisiana as Hurricane Ida passes on Aug. 29, 2021.
Montegut and Bourg firefighters inspect downed trees on a road in Bourg, Louisiana as Hurricane Ida passes on Aug. 29, 2021. Mark Felix/AFP/Getty Images

Hurricane Ida slammed Louisiana with devastating force as a Category 4 hurricane Sunday. Although Ida has now weakened to a tropical storm, resources to help those affected have been impacted.

Hospital staff are relying on generators to keep life-saving machines running and sleeping on air mattresses in their workplaces. New Orleans 9-1-1 reported technical difficulties amid power outages as of Monday morning, encouraging anyone experiencing an emergency to find their nearest fire station or approach the nearest officer.

Two of the three hospitals in Lafourche Parish sustained damage in Sunday’s epic storm, Lafourche Parish Sheriff Craig Webre told CNN.

A portion of the roof of The Lady of the Sea General Hospital in Galliano was ripped off as Ida came ashore, Webre told CNN’s Pamela Brown. The county was also forced to relocate its emergency operations center to a different building after the first building’s roof began to leak Sunday, Webre told CNN.

Hospitals dealing with storm damage and attending to victims of the hurricane were largely already stretched by the Covid-19 pandemic.

“Before going into this storm, our hospital was already almost at capacity,” Ochsner Health System’s Dr. Derek Smith told CNN. “We know the coming hours are going to be even more of a test.”

The hospital, which is near New Orleans, is running on generators, and staff there have been locked in – sleeping on air mattresses and working around the clock to care for patients, Smith said.

Hattiesburg, Mississippi, hadn’t yet felt the worst of Ida when Mayor Toby Barker spoke to CNN Sunday night, but officials there were bracing for damage from the storm and stress on their hospitals.

“We know that both our hospitals are at capacity because of Covid, and we really need everyone tonight just to make good decisions,” Barker said.

The storm has also impacted access for rescuers to get in and residents to get out.

The Kerner Swing Bridge in Jefferson Parish was hit by a barge Sunday as Ida beat down on Louisiana, according to the parish government, prompting officials to warn residents it may not be safe to drive across.

“Any residents that may still be in Lafitte are advised to not attempt to drive on this bridge. We do not believe it is structurally safe,” Jefferson Parish tweeted.

And due to fallen trees on the roadway, the Louisiana Department of Transportation and Development shut down about 22 miles of Interstate 10, a major thoroughfare that transits the state east to west.

In Lafourche Parish, every road was impassible Sunday night, Webre told CNN.

40 min ago

CNN meteorologist: Ida was 256 times more potentially damaging than a Category 1 storm

Hurricane Ida has now weakened to become Tropical Storm Ida, but it has wrecked havoc in parts of Louisiana already.

CNN’s Chad Myers put the wind damage in perspective.

“A Category 1, we’re going to call it one times multiplier. It’s a … 75-mph storm. You get to a Category 3, it’s 30 times more powerful and potential for damage than a Category 1,” he said.

“Ida was 256 times more potential damage than a Category 1, 75-mph storm. That’s what people are waking up to today. When we get pictures, we’re not going to like them,” Myers added.

Ida was still a big storm “as it was moving on shore because it was running over water. It was running over the swamps and the ditches,” he said. “It’s not any cooler than the ocean or the Gulf of Mexico. That’s why the storm did not slow down like a typical landfalling hurricane that does hit land.”

As Ida moves northward as a Category 1 storm, it has “switched from a damage surge maker, a wind-damage maker, now to a rainmaker and a flood event.” Myers said as he outlined what to expect next.

  • The worst of the eye wall was over Grand Isle. That area may have significant damage
  • Tornado watch is still in effect. Tornadoes are still possible today.
  • A lot of rainfall — maybe 4 to 6 inches of rain still to be expected. 

Watch:

1 hr 10 min ago

Hurricane Ida slammed Louisiana Sunday. Here’s where things stand now.

From CNN’s Madeline Holcombe

Hurricane Ida slammed Louisiana with devastating force as a Category 4 hurricane Sunday, leaving at least one person dead and more than one million customers without power as it flooded homes, ripped off roofs and trapped residents in dangerous rising waters.

While the scope of the damage won’t be clear until day breaks Monday and teams can assess the chaos, initial reports indicate the situation for many residents who stayed behind is dire.

The storm slowed after it made landfall around 1 p.m. ET Sunday near Port Fourchon, delivering catastrophic winds and torrential rains for hours.

Ida weakened to a tropical storm early Monday with sustained winds of 60 mph and the continued threat of life-threatening flash flooding.

“We’ve suffered flooding before. We suffered storms before. But I’ve never seen water like this in my life. It just hit us in the worst way possible and it was such a massive storm that it just totally devastated us,” said Tim Kerner Jr, mayor of Jean Lafitte, south of New Orleans.

Levees were overtopped in his city and residents were forced to their roofs, waiting for rescue boats to arrive, Kerner said.

“We’re going to make sure we get as many boats as possible,” to assist with rescues, he said, adding that boats were ready to move in as soon as the weather broke. “It really breaks your heart when you know those people and you can’t get to those people.”

Ida slammed into Louisiana on the 16th anniversary of Hurricane Katrina, tying with 2020’s Hurricane Laura and the Last Island Hurricane of 1856 as the strongest ever to hit the state.

More than one million customers in Louisiana were without power as of early Monday morning, according to PowerOutage.US. Among them is all of Orleans Parish, which was hit with “catastrophic transmission damage,” the city office said in a Tweet Sunday night. More than 105,000 customers were without power in Mississippi, PowerOutage.US reported.

Entergy Louisiana said some of its customers could be without power for weeks. And the storm surge of up to 15 feet and winds as strong as 150 mph could leave parts of southeast Louisiana “uninhabitable for weeks or months,” according to a local hurricane statement from the National Weather Service in New Orleans

Source: http://rss.cnn.com/~r/rss/cnn_topstories/~3/my13XFZy01s/index.html