Joe Biden warned that Hurricane Ida would be more destructive than Katrina

The president of United States, Joe biden, addressed the people of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) to warn Americans to prepare for the worst: “Ida will be devastating, it is a mortal danger, please take your precautions, listen to the local authorities and take this risk seriously, ”he asked.

Simultaneously, the governor of LouisianaJohn Bel Edwards (Democratic Party) urged people in the southeastern United States to take refuge where they are. The hurricane advance towards the state of Mississippi.

The governor warned that Hurricane Ida could be the most devastating since 1850, and the wonderful memory of the destruction left behind by Katrina, which in 2005 killed more than 1,800 people and caused damage estimated at US $ 108 billion.

The Hurricane Ida, which at 11:55 a.m. on Sunday, August 29, struck category 4 (winds of 240 km / h) on the city of Port-Fourchon, in Louisiana, has already lost strength, but continues to cause damage as it travels through the state, moving at 65 kilometers per hour, as a Category 1 tropical storm.

All New Orleans it is without light. The Office of Homeland Security and Emergency Preparedness has confirmed that the Entergy company, responsible for the distribution of electricity in the south-east of Louisiana, cannot operate, but they have already sent teams to try to remedy the situation. “The only energy in the city comes from the generators,” he added. The Poweroutage.us site. estimates that a million households they have no electricity.

Ida, destruction step by step

The trees have fallen and the houses are roofless: the hurricane He pulled them up by the roots. About twenty boats drift on the river Mississippi. A person died Monday of a tree fall in Prairieville, near New Orleansthe local sheriff’s office reported.

The Mississippi Crisis Management Agency asked the public: “Stay safe where they are for at least 72 hours“.

It is raining uninterrupted since Sunday and they think it will cause floods which will persist for several days. Yet Stephen McCraney, director of the Mississippi Crisis Management Agency tries to instill encouragement in the population: “Our state is stronger than 16 years ago, we worked hard to limit the damage. We have learned the lessons of Katrina and we have taken the necessary steps. I can assure you that we are prepared, ”he said.

Part of the population obeyed evacuation orders and abandoned their homes. At the moment 1,600 people are in the 23 shelters of the state of Louisiana.

However, others did not want to. In Grand Isle, northeast of Port-Fourchon, and where the mainland opens onto the vast Gulf of Mexico, around forty islanders rejected the evacuation order and were locked up in them when the hurricane hit. Authorities they haven’t heard from them and the city is completely flooded and isolated from the rest of the country. “We have between 75 and 200 people trapped in Barataria,” Mayor Tim Kerner said. “The winds are still too strong, we cannot launch boats to recover them,” he said.

First responders have warned they won’t be able to act quickly when things start to calm down. “Once the hurricane has passed, Everyone should stay at the shelter where they have been for at least 72 hours “, warned the governor of the state, John Bel Edwards, asking for calm and patience.

MM CP