“Life-threatening” Hurricane Ida is expected to shake New Orleans on the 16th anniversary of Hurricane Katrina

Hurricane Ida struck Cuba on Friday, and the goal now is to hit the U.S. Gulf Coast and New Orleans with extremely dangerous forces on Sunday-a full 16 years after the city was destroyed by Hurricane Katrina.

According to the National Hurricane Center, Ada quickly intensified from a tropical storm to a hurricane on Friday, with wind speeds as high as 80 miles per hour when it hit western Cuba. The center predicts that Ada will briefly intensify into a more dangerous Category 4 storm before making landfall on the Gulf Coast in the form of a Category 3 hurricane on Sunday, with wind speeds of up to 140 miles per hour.

“Ada is expected to become an extremely dangerous major hurricane when it approaches the northern coast of the Gulf of Mexico on Sunday. It is expected that some areas of the hurricane warning zone along the Louisiana coast on Sunday, including the metropolis of New Orleans, will experience strong winds of hurricane intensity. It may cause catastrophic wind damage to Ada’s core moving offshore,” the Hurricane Center wrote on Twitter on Saturday.

The Hurricane Center also warned that there will be “life-threatening” storm surges along the coasts of Louisiana and Mississippi, which are expected to bring heavy rainfall, strong winds and flash floods.

In response to the hurricane, New Orleans Mayor LaToya Cantrell called for Forced evacuation of urban areas Outside its dike protection system on Friday. Other parts of Louisiana have also issued voluntary evacuation orders and, in some cases, mandatory evacuation orders.

Parts of Alabama, Mississippi, Texas, and Florida are also under tropical storm observation and storm surge observation.

Louisiana Governor John Bell Edwards declared a state of emergency on Thursday night and warned residents on Friday that “before night falls tomorrow night, you need to get to where you plan to go through the storm.”

“For those who are not prepared, this will be a life-changing storm,” National Weather Service meteorologist Benjamin Short added at a press conference with Edwards on Friday, according to Associated Press.

President Joe Biden The Louisiana Federal Emergency Declaration was approved, and FEMA is expected to send nearly 150 medical personnel and nearly 50 ambulances to the Gulf Coast to assist the strained hospital.

Ada is expected to land in New Orleans on the exact date when Hurricane Katrina swept New Orleans with a wind speed of 125 mph and a Category 3 storm 16 years ago. Hurricane Katrina killed an estimated 1,800 people from the central coast of Louisiana to the Mississippi-Alabama border and caused catastrophic flooding in nearly 80% of New Orleans.

The devastating effects of Hurricane Katrina are still lingering in the memory of many residents, who rushed to prepare for Ada on Friday before the storm, and lined up to buy groceries, natural gas and ice.

Captain Ross Eichorn, a fishing guide on the coast about 70 miles southwest of New Orleans, told the Associated Press that he fears that the warm waters of the bay will “turn into monsters” from Ida Island.

“A direct hit, it’s not that you don’t know what will be left—if there is any,” Eckhorn said. “Anyone who doesn’t care has problems with them.”

Forecasters warn that by the time the hurricane reaches the Gulf Coast on Sunday, Ida may bring 8 to 16 inches of rain — 20 inches in some areas — from southeastern Louisiana to the Mississippi coast and Alaba. Massachusetts until Monday morning.

“Aida From late Sunday to Monday, heavy rainfall may occur in the central Gulf of Mexico, leading to severe flash floods and river flooding.Parts of the Lower Mississippi Valley and Tennessee Valley may be affected by flooding because #Aida Moving inland,” the Hurricane Center wrote on Twitter on Saturday.