Aug.30, 2021: Hurricane Ida is one of the most powerful hurricanes to hit the US Southwest coast ever, bringing with it strong winds, torrential rains and heavy tunnels that hit the coast of Louisiana.

Most of Lousiana is now submerged since hurricane Ida made landfall. In New Orleans, Louisiana’s most populous city, a “catastrophic transmission loss” caused a power outage, local utilities reported Sunday.

At least one person died after being injured by a fallen tree in the New Orleans suburb of Prairieville, according to the sheriff’s office.

Hurricane Ida, a Category 4 storm, hit on the same date Hurricane Katrina, a Category 3 storm, ravaged the southern states of Louisiana and Mississippi 16 years earlier.

Hurricane Ida’s 230 kilometres per hour winds tied it for the fifth-strongest hurricane to ever hit the US mainland It dropped hours later to a Category 2 storm with maximum winds of 165 km/h as it crawled inland, its eye about 65km west-northwest of New Orleans.

Residents of the most vulnerable coastal areas were ordered to evacuate days in advance. But those riding out the storm in their homes in New Orleans, less than 160km inland to the north, braced for the toughest test yet of significant upgrades to a levee system constructed following devastating floods in 2005 from Katrina.

Hurricane Ida’s approach has also forced the suspension of emergency medical services in New Orleans and other states that are already suffering from a fourth wave of COVID-19 infection that has crippled Louisiana’s healthcare system. For an estimated 2,450 COVID-19 patients in hospitals across the state, in many intensive care units, evacuation was not an option.

According to a report made to the Reuters news agency, a loss of generator power at the Thibodaux Regional Health System hospital in Lafourche Parish, southwest of New Orleans, forced medical workers to manually assist patients on respirators with breathing while they were moved to another floor, the state Health Department said.

Louisiana Governor John Bel Edwards said Hurricane Ida could be the most powerful storm to hit the state since 1850.

The governor said he expects new reinforced levies to be held in New Orleans, saying they were “made for the moment.” Levees were built around the southern city when the floodwaters from Katrina flooded the lower part of the city, especially the historically Black neighbourhoods. The hurricane Katrina claimed more than 1,800 lives.

Inundation from hurricane Ida’s storm surge, high surf driven by the hurricane’s winds, was reported to be exceeding predicted levels of 1.83 metres along parts of the coast.

The White House said Sunday that federal agencies have deployed more than 2,000 emergency workers to the area, including 13 civilian search and rescue teams, with food and water supplies and electricity generators.

The White House added that local authorities, the Red Cross and other organizations have set up dozens of shelters for at least 16,000 people in case of devastation from the hurricane Ida.

Joe Biden, the US president, approved emergency declarations for Louisiana and Mississippi. He said Sunday that the country was praying for the best for Louisiana and would put “all its strength behind rescue and recovery” after the storm.

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