Ida leaves one million without power in US
Major disaster declared in Louisiana as rescuers use boats and helicopters to reach thousands stranded
Emergency workers have taken boats and helicopters to reach people trapped by floodwaters in Louisiana after a deadly hurricane ripped through the state, leaving one million people without power. At least one person was confirmed dead last night, but the toll is expected to rise “significantly”. Hospitals had their roofs blown off and entire towns were impassable after Ida, one of the most powerful hurricanes to ever hit the US, barrelled through yesterday.
‘Search and rescue is happening right now and I fully expect the death count will go up considerably’
‘We’re going to stand with you and the people of the gulf as long as it takes you to recover’
EMERGENCY workers have taken boats and helicopters to reach people trapped by floodwaters in Louisiana after a deadly hurricane ripped through the state, leaving one million people without power.
At least one person was confirmed dead last night, but the toll is expected to rise “significantly”, according to John Bel Edwards, the state’s governor.
Hospitals had their roofs blown off and entire towns were left impassable after Ida, one of the most powerful hurricanes to ever hit the US, barrelled through on Sunday.
In a sign of the acute difficulties faced by the state, some coronavirus patients had to be manually ventilated when back up generators failed in the intensive care unit of the Thibodaux Regional Health System in Lafourche Parish, southwest of New Orleans.
State police have warned stranded residents that it “may be difficult to get help to you for quite some time”, while a council member in New Orleans said the power could be out for “weeks”.
The Louisiana National Guard said it activated 5,200 personnel, and lined up 195 high-water vehicles, 73 rescue boats and 34 helicopters to help with the operation. “I don’t want to mislead anyone. Robust search and rescue is happening right now and I fully expect that the death count will go up considerably,” Mr Edwards told MSNBC.
The advice from officials is to “shelter in place”. “Although you may be tempted to go explore, conditions are still very dangerous,” the City of New Orleans Emergency Medical Services wrote on Twitter.
Joe Biden, the President, declared a major disaster in the state.
Last night, Mr Biden convened a meeting with senior officials involved in the rescue operation. He said: “We know that hurricane Ida had the potential to cause massive damage and that’s exactly what we saw.”
“We’re going to stand with you and the people of the gulf as long as it takes you to recover,” he added.
All of New Orleans lost power at sunset on Sunday as the hurricane blew ashore on the 16th anniversary of hurricane Katrina, which killed 1,800 people.
“I had a long miserable night,” said Chris Atkins, who was in his New Orleans home when he heard a “boom” and the whole side of the living room wall fell in. Four Louisiana hospitals were damaged and 39 medical facilities were operating on generator power, the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) said.
There are an estimated 2,450 Covid19 patients in hospitals across the state, many in intensive care units.
The governor’s office said over 2,200 evacuees were staying in 41 shelters as of yesterday morning, a number that is expected to rise as people are rescued or escape from flooded homes.
Despite the widespread flooding, federal levees appeared to have held. Hundreds of miles of new levees were built around New Orleans after flooding from Katrina inundated much of the lowlying city. “For the most part, all of our levees performed extremely well – especially the federal levees – but at the end of the day the storm surge, the rain, the wind all had devastating impacts,” Mr Edwards said.
More than 30,000 utility workers are in the state to help restore power.
Deanne Criswell, FEMA’S administrator, said the full impact of the storm would become clear later today.
Ida’s 150mph winds made it the fifthstrongest hurricane to hit the US mainland. Forecasters said flash flooding and mudslides are possible along Ida’s path up the north of the US before it blows out to sea over New England on Friday.