Water covered 80% of the city, and many homes were swamped to the rooftops. In New Orleans, failures of levees led to catastrophic flooding. The massive storm surge it generated scoured the shores and washed away many houses completely. Katrina is blamed for an estimated 1,800 deaths after striking the coasts of Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama. If that forecast holds true, Ida would hit 16 years to the day since Hurricane Katrina landed as a Category 3 storm with 125-mph winds near the riverside community of Buras in Plaquemines Parish, just down the Mississippi from New Orleans. Late Friday night, the storm was 105 miles west of Havana and traveling northwest at 15 mph.Īn even greater danger will then begin over the gulf, where forecasts were aligned in predicting Ida will strengthen very quickly into a major hurricane before landfall in the Mississippi River Delta late Sunday, the hurricane center said. There were no immediate reports of deaths. Noel Lozano of Cuban Civil Defense said more than 10,000 people were evacuated in Pinar del Rio province, most to stay with relatives. It was really frightening,” Deulofeu said. Ivonne Deulofeu, who lives in the western town of Vinales, said strong winds persisted for hours on Friday.

The Cuban government issued a hurricane warning for its westernmost provinces, where forecasters said as much as 20 inches of rain could fall in places, possibly unleashing deadly flash floods and mudslides. Ida made its first landfall on the Isle of Youth off Cuba’s southern coast. White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki said FEMA plans to send nearly 150 medical personnel and almost 50 ambulances to the Gulf Coast to assist strained hospitals. President Biden approved a federal emergency declaration for Louisiana ahead of the storm. One positive was that the number of COVID-19 patients had dropped from 988 to 836 over the last week - a 15% decline. Jennifer Avengo, the city’s health director.Īt the state’s largest hospital system, Ochsner Health, officials ordered 10 days’ worth of fuel, food, drugs and other supplies and have backup fuel contracts for its generators. There’s little room for their patients elsewhere, with hospitals from Texas to Florida already reeling from a surge in coronavirus patients, said Dr. Officials decided against evacuating New Orleans hospitals. A tropical storm warning was extended to the Mississippi-Alabama line. “Anybody that isn’t concerned has got something wrong with them.”Ī hurricane warning was issued for most of the Louisiana coast from Intracoastal City to the mouth of the Pearl River. “With a direct hit, ain’t no telling what’s going to be left - if anything,” Eichorn said. Ross Eichorn, a fishing guide on the coast about 70 miles southwest of New Orleans, said he fears warm gulf waters will “make a monster” out of Ida. The storm is expected to make landfall on the same date Hurricane Katrina devastated a large swath of the Gulf Coast 16 years ago. Other areas across the coastal region were under a mix of voluntary and mandatory evacuations.

Hurricane aida