Hurricane Ida Being hit Cuba Friday, and threatened to slam Louisiana with a devastating force over the weekend, prompting people to evacuate New Orleans And the entire coastal area.
On Friday, Ida quickly intensified from a tropical storm to a hurricane with a maximum wind speed of 80 mph (128 km/h) while crossing western Cuba and entering the Gulf of Mexico. The National Hurricane Center predicts that Ida will intensify into an extremely dangerous category 4 hurricane with a maximum wind speed of 140 mph (225 km/h), and then make landfall along the U.S. Gulf Coast later on Sunday.
“For those who are not prepared, this will be a life-changing storm,” National Weather Service meteorologist Benjamin Short said at a press conference with Louisiana Governor John Bell Edwards on Friday. .
The governor urged residents to prepare quickly. He said: “Before night falls tomorrow night, you need to get to where you plan to go to get through the storm.”
The Mayor of New Orleans, LaToya Cantrell, ordered the mandatory evacuation of a small area outside the city’s dike system. But as the storm became so strong in a short period of time, she said it was impossible to do this in the entire city. This usually requires the use of all lanes of some highways to leave the city.
“The city government cannot order a mandatory evacuation because we don’t have time,” Cantrell said.
City officials said residents need to prepare for prolonged power outages and asked elderly residents to consider evacuation. The city’s emergency management director Collin Arnold (Collin Arnold) said the city may experience strong winds for about 10 hours.
The rest of the coastal area is in a mixed state of voluntary and compulsory evacuation. The storm is expected to make landfall on the exact date that Hurricane Katrina destroyed large areas of the Gulf Coast 16 years ago. Captain Ross Eckhorn, who works as a fishing guide on the coast about 70 miles (112 kilometers) southwest of New Orleans, said he was worried that the warm bay waters would make Ida “a monster.”
“A direct hit, it’s not that you don’t know what will be left—if any,” Eichorn said. He added: “Anyone who doesn’t care has problems for them.”
Hurricane warnings have been issued on most of the coast of Louisiana from the inland city to the mouth of the Pearl River. The tropical storm warning extends to the Mississippi-Alabama line.
The officials decided not to evacuate the hospital in New Orleans. The city’s health director, Dr. Jennifer Avengo, said there is almost no room for patients elsewhere, and hospitals from Texas to Florida have been affected by the surge in coronavirus patients.
At Ochsner Health System, the state’s largest hospital system, officials ordered 10 days of fuel, food, medicine, and other supplies, and signed a backup fuel contract for its generators. A positive factor is that the number of COVID-19 patients fell from 988 to 836 in the past week-a 15% decrease.
President Joe Biden approved the Federal Emergency Declaration of Louisiana before the storm. White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki said that FEMA plans to send nearly 150 medical staff and nearly 50 ambulances to the Gulf Coast to assist the strained hospital.
Ada landed on the Youth Island in southern Cuba for the first time on Friday afternoon. The Cuban government issued a hurricane warning to its westernmost province, and forecasters said that rainfall in the area could be as high as 20 inches (50 cm), which could cause deadly flash floods and mudslides.
Ivonne Deulofeu, who lives in the western town of Vinales, said the strong wind lasted several hours on Friday.
“This surprised us. It’s really scary,” Deulofeu said. “We had to nail the door of the room… the plants, they are gone.”
Colonel Noel Lozano of the Cuban Civil Defense Department said that more than 10,000 people have been evacuated in the province of Binar del Río, most of whom stayed with relatives. There were no reports of immediate deaths.
Late Friday night, the storm was 105 miles (165 kilometers) west of Havana, moving northwest at a speed of 15 miles (24 kilometers) per hour.
The Hurricane Center stated that greater danger will begin to emerge in the Gulf region, where predictions are consistent, predicting that Ida will rapidly intensify into a major hurricane before it makes landfall in the Mississippi Delta late Sunday.
If this prediction is true, then Hurricane Katrina made landfall at 125 mph (201 km/h) near the riverside community along the lower Mississippi River in New Orleans at 125 mph (201 km/h). On that day, Ada will last for 16 years.
From the central coast of Louisiana to near the Mississippi-Alabama border, an estimated 1,800 people died from Hurricane Katrina. A huge storm surge swept the coast and wiped the houses off the map. In New Orleans, the collapse of the Federal Dike caused catastrophic flooding. Water covers 80% of the city, and many houses are submerged on the roofs. Some victims drowned in their attic. The Superdome and the New Orleans Convention Center have become sultry and painful scenes as thousands of people are trapped without electricity or running water.
The memory of Hurricane Katrina still haunts many people who scrambled to prepare for Ida on Friday, lining up to buy groceries, gasoline and ice, and sandbags provided by the city.
Traffic jams at the entrance of a Costco in New Orleans. Dozens of cars are parked next to the gas station. Shoppers push carts filled with bottled water and other necessities.
Henry upgraded to a hurricane, and parts of the east coast of the United States are under flood monitoring
Wandersmith, a retired police officer who worked in the police force when Hurricane Katrina struck, said he and his family plan to stay, but if the forecast worsens, he is also preparing to go further inland. He packed water, bread, and sandwich meat into his SUV.
“I know what that looks like,” Smith said, referring to the potential damage. “This is the first time I have come home in 34 years of service,” he added. “And I want to be prepared.”
The NFL preseason game between the Arizona Cardinals and Saints held at the Superdome on Saturday was first advanced 7 hours to avoid the impact of the weather, and then completely cancelled.
The Hurricane Center predicts that the peak storm surge along the Louisiana coast may reach 10 to 15 feet (3 to 4.5 meters), and the storm surge in the New Orleans area may reach 7 to 11 feet (2.1 to 3.4 meters). The trajectory of the storm places New Orleans on the east side—often referred to as the dirty side—usually much more affected than the west side.
“It’s not ideal to be east of the storm track,” Arnold said.
Associated Press contributors include Melinda Deslatte in Baton Rouge, Louisiana; Jeff Martin in Marietta, Georgia; Darlene Superville in Washington; Seth Borenstein in Kensington, Maryland; and Andrea Rodriguez in Havana, Cuba.
© 2021 Canadian Press
