Improved levee structures surrounding the city itself prevented the catastrophic failures that flooded 80% of New Orleans during Hurricane Katrina in 2005, leaving the city mostly impacted by wind damage during this latest hurricane. The suburban LaPlace community just to the west of the city took a direct hit from the hurricane, which was completely flooded from Ida’s storm surge, causing some residents to scramble into attics to escape the waters. The storm largely maintained intensity as it moved inland over marshland in south Louisiana, taking a jog in track to the east late Sunday evening that brought some of its worst impacts directly into the New Orleans area. Ida’s maximum sustained winds were estimated at 150 mph, tying it with Hurricane Laura from last year and the 1856 Last Island hurricane as the most powerful storms to ever hit the state of Louisiana. Hurricane Ida made landfall on Sunday near Port Fourchon, Louisiana, which recorded a peak wind gust of 172 mph as the storm pushed through. Entergy, the electric supplier for the city, is taking at least four days just to do assessments, but the company has said 20,000 electrical workers will push in to start repairs once it figures out a plan for getting the lights back on. The storm cut off the city from all eight sources of outside power, and notably destroyed a 400-foot-tall electrical transmission tower to the west of the city. Some power has started to be restored in suburban areas outside of New Orleans that are north of Lake Pontchartrain, but there are concerns of very long-term outages-perhaps weeks, at least-in the highly populated areas south of the lake that include the city itself. What To Watch Forĭamage assessment is just getting under way as roads are cleared in Louisiana. “Drink plenty of fluids, stay out of the sun and check up on relatives and neighbors,” forecasters with the New Orleans National Weather Service office said. Keeping hydrated will also be critical, but the storm compromised most major water systems, leading to either complete water outages or boil-water advisories over most of the area.
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