According to the 6am EST update from the NOAA, Hurricane Ida has spun up to a category four hurricane with top sustained winds of 140 mph. The storm is expected to make landfall later today. The storm is currently heading Northwest at 15 mph.
President Biden has already issued a disaster declaration for the area in the storm’s path, and electrical crews from as far away as Tampa Florida are already mobilizing to assist with restoring power after the storm passes.
Residents are fearful that this storm could be a replay of Hurricane Katrina, but according to an update from ABC-4WWL, “96 of the city’s 99 drainage pumps are available…[and] officials said they were confident they would be able to power the pumps during a press conference Saturday.”
Power outages have already begun in some coastal areas. “Cleco [a local power authority] is reporting about 3,900 customers without power on the northshore, with most of those outages clustered around Slidell. Entergy reports just under 5,500 customers without power, with the vast majority in Jefferson and Plaquemines parishes.Outages are expected to increase throughout the day.”
“Hurricane Ida now has sustained winds of 150 MPH as it approaches the Louisiana coast. The threshold for a Category 5 hurricane is 157 MPH.”