Minute by minute: Storm Ida killed one, left New Orleans without power and devastated the region with winds of 75 km / h

The mighty hurricane Ida hit the southern state of Louisiana and plunged New Orleans into darkness Sunday night, leaving at least one deceased, 16 years after Hurricane Katrina devastated the city.

After made landfall on Sunday as a Category 4 hurricane, left more than a million people without power and inundated Louisiana’s coastal towns on its deadly route along the Gulf of Mexico coast, threatening even more destruction. In its 4-hour report, the National Hurricane Center downgraded it to a tropical storm, with maximum sustained winds of 95 kilometers per hour..

New Orleans Time (CST, -5 GMT):

7.00: Update from the National Hurricane Center: Maximum sustained winds are now at 45 miles per hour (75 km / h). The movement of the storm continues to be northward. Threats of dangerous flooding remain for Louisiana, the Mississippi coast and southern Alabama.

6.30: John Bel Edwards, Governor of Louisiana, wrote: “At sunrise, please stay where you are. Ida left behind many dangers throughout Louisiana, including flooded streets, debris, and downed utility poles. “

5.50: The New Orleans Weather Service has released a long list of flooded city streets. “Please stay safe unless you absolutely have to move,” they urged.

4.00: The NHC has warned that Ida will continue to produce heavy rains until Tuesday morning over Louisiana, the Mississippi coast and southwestern Alabama, with flooding dangerous for the region. The tropical storm maintains winds of 95 kilometers per hour and is moving north at a speed of 13 km / h.

2.10: The New Orleans 911 emergency system reported technical difficulties and requested that in the event of an emergency they go to the nearest fire station.

23.00: CNH report shows Ida with winds of 153 km / h, less violent than when it made landfall a few hours earlier, about 60 km south of New Orleans.

22.50: “We lost electricity throughout the city! It’s time to stay home, in a safe place. Now is not the time to venture abroad ”, New Orleans Mayor LaToya Cantrell tweeted.

22.00: At least one death is attributed to Ida. Ascension Parish officers responded to a report of a fallen tree injured at a Prairieville home outside of Baton Rouge and confirmed the death, police said on Facebook on Sunday. The victim has not been identified.

New Orleans has become a city with boarded up windows and houses surrounded by sandbags, awaiting this “extremely dangerous” hurricane.

The National Hurricane Center (NHC) said Ida had created a “life-threatening situation” and urged “to take all necessary measures to protect her life and property”.

In the town of Jean Lafitte, south of New Orleans, Mayor Tim Kernet spoke of “total and catastrophic devastation” with “the city’s dikes submerged” by flood waters, to a local broadcaster. “Between 75 and 200 people are stranded” in the Barataria reserve, and “the winds are too strong to go by boat to look for them,” he added.

President Joe Biden called Ida a “deadly storm” that “continues to devastate anything she comes in contact with.”

For Governor John Bel Edwards, this could be the biggest storm to hit Louisiana since the 1850s. “There is no doubt that the next few days and weeks will be extremely difficult,” he said on Sunday. , adding that some people will have to stay in the shelter. up to 72 hours.

“Find the safest place in your home and stay there until the storm passes,” he tweeted earlier.

The town of Grand Isle, on a barrier island south of New Orleans, has already been inundated by rising waters, CNN reported.

Most residents heeded authorities’ warnings and fled the area days before the storm arrived, saturating exits to New Orleans and other cities.

In a district in the east of the city, the final preparations were completed on Sunday. “I’m not sure I’m ready,” said Charles Fields, who still carried his patio furniture indoors at the time, “but we’ll have to deal with it.”

In 2005, Hurricane Katrina inundated the 60-year-old man’s home about 3.3 meters away. “Let’s see how it holds up,” this time, he said. Katrina flooded 80% of New Orleans, claiming 1,800 lives and billions of dollars in damage.

Governor Edwards warned that Ida would be “a major test” for the state’s flood prevention system, which was expanded after the Katrina disaster. And he told CNN that around hundreds of thousands of residents have evacuated their homes. The storm “is bringing us various difficulties, with hospitals so full of COVID-19 patients,” he added.

The southern state, with a low vaccination rate, has been among the hardest hit by the coronavirus. With 2,700 hospitalizations on Saturday, the levels are close to the highest of the pandemic. This complicated plans to deal with this hurricane and activate shelters.

Biden, who declared a state of emergency in Louisiana, on Saturday urged everyone in shelters to wear a mask and maintain a safe distance.

Scientists have warned of an increase in the number of strong cyclones as the ocean surface warms due to climate change, posing a growing threat to coastal communities around the world.

(With AFP, EFE, AP information)

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