Hurricane Ida: US Gulf Coast braces for ‘dangerous’ storm | Weather News

The storm is expected to make landfall in the United States late Sunday, bringing heavy showers, tides and winds of 225 km / h to the region.

U.S. Gulf Coast authorities have issued more serious warnings as Hurricane Ida is expected to bring heavy rain, a tidal wave to much of the Louisiana coastline, and winds of up to 225 km. / h (140 mph) in the area this weekend.

Forecasters have said the storm could make landfall in the United States as an “extremely dangerous” Category 4 storm on the Saffir-Simpson five-stage scale.

On Saturday morning, Ida was about 700 km (435 miles) southeast of Houma, Louisiana with peak winds of 136 km / h (85 mph) and heading for a landing late Sunday, said the Miami National Hurricane Center (NHC).

“Ida is expected to be an extremely dangerous major hurricane as it approaches the northern Gulf Coast on Sunday,” NHC said, adding that preparations for the storm should be “rushed to completion.”

“Today it is,” NHC interim deputy director Jamie Rhome also said on Saturday. “If you’re on the Louisiana and Mississippi coast, you really, really have to go because today is in terms of protecting life and property.”

Evacuation orders

Authorities have issued a combination of voluntary and mandatory evacuations for towns and communities in the area, including New Orleans, where a mid-morning notice told residents that “if you plan to evacuate, do it now “.

Traffic was heavy on the westbound roads out of the city early on Saturday, and most gas stations in New Orleans and its suburbs were out of gas. The few that were still open had queues of more than a dozen cars and a wait time of almost an hour.

Louisiana Governor John Bel Edwards said on Saturday that Ida “is a dangerous storm and our window of preparation is closing quickly.”

Mike Laurent of Marrero, Louisiana, filled a dozen cans of gasoline for his generator and those belonging to his friends and family. Laurent said he and his family plan to weather the storm at home despite concerns about the ability of the dike near his home to hold up. It was reinforced after Hurricane Katrina in 2005.

“I don’t think he’s ever been tested like he will be tomorrow or Monday,” he told the Associated Press news agency.

“I bought a dozen life jackets, just in case,” he said. “I hope I can bring them back. I hope I don’t have to use them. But I’d rather have it and not need it than need it and not have it.

These are the latest updates of @NWSNewOrleans. hurricane #Ida is a dangerous storm, and our preparation window is closing quickly. Continue to pay attention to local news and heed warnings from local authorities. #lagov #lawx pic.twitter.com/56FUc53JZc

– John Bel Edwards (@LouisianaGov) August 28, 2021

“The absolute worst place”

The storm is expected to make landfall on the exact date Hurricane Katrina devastated much of the Gulf Coast 16 years ago. But while Katrina was Category 3 when it made landfall southwest of New Orleans, Ida is expected to hit an extremely dangerous Category 4 hurricane.

Hurricane Ida “is going to do more damage to industries than Katrina” because the storm’s predicted track causes it to strike a vital industrial corridor between New Orleans and Baton Rouge, meteorologist Jeff Masters said.

He said Ida would have to pass through “the absolute worst place for a hurricane.”

“It is planned to follow the industrial corridor between Baton Rouge and New Orleans, which is one of the key infrastructure regions of the United States, essential to the economy, there are hundreds of major industrial sites there. “Down there, I mean petrochemical sites, three of America’s 15 largest ports a nuclear power plant,” Masters told AP.

“You’re probably going to shut down the Mississippi River to barge traffic for several weeks. It’s going to do a lot of damage to the infrastructure there.

People board Crescent City Pizza on Bourbon Street in the French Quarter of New Orleans, Louisiana, before Hurricane Ida arrives [Matthew Hinton/AP Photo]

U.S. President Joe Biden held a conference call with the governors of Louisiana, Alabama and Mississippi, as well as federal emergency response officials, on Friday ahead of the hurricane’s expected arrival.

“They discussed the need for residents on the way to the storm to now prepare for significant impacts given the intensity of the storm and the expected precipitation and storm surges,” the White House said in a statement. communicated. declaration about the meeting.

Biden said on Saturday that 500 federal emergency response officers were in Texas and Louisiana responding to the storm. Aid workers have “coordinated closely with electric utilities to restore power as soon as possible,” Biden said during a briefing with officials from the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA).