Hurricane Ida strengthened in the warm waters of the Gulf of Mexico on Saturday, prompting tens of thousands of people to flee coastal areas, and the President Joe Biden Pledge to provide assistance to help states recover quickly after the storm has passed.
The forecaster said that Ada may land in the United States on Sunday and become a Category 5 Saffir-Simpson “extremely dangerous” Category 4 storm, generating strong winds at 225 kilometers per hour, downpours and tidal waves, which may be submerged. Most of Louisiana’s coastline has a few feet of water.
On Saturday afternoon, Ida was located about 470 kilometers southeast of the Mississippi Estuary, with a maximum wind speed of 155 kilometers per hour, targeting the coast of Louisiana, the National Hurricane Center said.
DTN chief meteorologist Jim Foerster, who provides weather advice to oil and transportation companies, said: “We are worried that it will explode shortly before it makes landfall.”
The NHC stated that flooding from the Ida storm surge-high water levels driven by hurricane winds-could reach 3 to 4.5 meters around the mouth of the Mississippi River, with lower water levels extending eastward along the adjacent coastlines of Mississippi and Alabama. .
As residents and holidaymakers fled the waterfront, officials ordered widespread evacuation of low-lying and coastal areas, blocked highways, and caused some gas stations to dry up.
“I left Furchon at 8 o’clock last night. This is a ghost town,” said sport fishing captain Andre LeBron from his home inland in Lafayette, Louisiana. “We are the last to leave there.”
Expected power outage
Utility companies are adding additional staff and equipment to cope with expected power losses. DTN’s Foster said that as Ida’s strong winds enter Mobile, Alabama, Louisiana and the Far East, thousands of homes may fall into darkness.
Biden said on Saturday that 500 federal emergency responders were responding to the storm in Texas and Louisiana. Biden said at a briefing with officials from the Federal Emergency Management Agency that aid workers “have been closely coordinating with the power company to restore power as soon as possible.”
The governor of Louisiana, John Bel Edwards, stated that the wind in Ida will be very strong and will spread to an area of 300 miles. The state has already been affected by the fourth wave of the COVID-19 pandemic. The health crisis is in trouble.
“The situation at hand is very serious,” Edwards said at a briefing. “This will be one of the strongest hurricanes to hit anywhere in Louisiana since at least the 1850s.”
The state does not intend to evacuate the hospital, which is now strained by the influx. Coronavirus disease Patient, he said. More than 3,400 new infections were reported on Friday, and about 2,700 people were hospitalized with the virus.
Edwards said: “We have been talking to the hospital to ensure that their generators are working properly. They have much more water than usual and they have personal protective equipment on hand.”
Reduction of oil and fuel output
U.S. energy companies reduced offshore oil production by 91%, and gasoline refiners cut operations at their Louisiana plant during the storm. Due to expected production losses, regional fuel prices have risen.
People familiar with the matter said Phillips 66 completed the closure of its Alliance refinery on the coast of Louisiana, while PBF Energy reduced its processing in Chalmette, Louisiana.
Patrick DeHaan, head of petroleum analysis at the tracking company GasBuddy, said that in the week of Friday, gasoline demand in Louisiana increased by 71%.
Forecasters say that Ida is the ninth named storm and fourth hurricane in the 2021 Atlantic hurricane season. When it makes landfall, its intensity is likely to exceed Hurricane Laura, which is the last category 4 to hit Louisiana. storm.
The area was destroyed by Hurricane Katrina in August 2005, killing more than 1,800 people.
(Reporting by Erwin Seba in Houston, Rich McKay in Atlanta, Brendan O’Brien in Chicago, and Arpan Varghese in Bangalore. Written by Gary McWilliams, Steve Gorman and Frances Kerry; Editing by Marguerita Choy, Catherine Evans and Leslie Adler)
