Ida aims for New Orleans on Katrina anniversary
Mayor says ‘now is the time’ for evacuations
NEW ORLEANS – Tropical Storm Ida swirled toward a strike on Cuba on Friday as a rapidly intensifying storm that could speed across warm Gulf waters and slam into Louisiana as a Category 3 hurricane on Sunday, the National Hurricane Center warned.
“The forecast track has it headed straight toward New Orleans. Not good,” said Jim Kossin, a senior scientist with The Climate Service.
New Orleans Mayor Latoya Cantrell called Friday for evacuation of everyone living outside the levee system that protects the area from flooding. She did not say how many people lived there, but urged residents with medical conditions and other special needs to get out early.
“Now is the time,” Cantrell said. Ida was expected to become a hurricane Friday before hitting tobacco-rich western Cuba, where the government issued a hurricane warning Friday for its westernmost provinces and the Isle of Youth. As much as 20 inches of rain could fall in places, making deadly flash floods and mudslides possible, forecasters said.
An even greater danger will then begin over the Gulf of Mexico, where forecasts were aligned in predicting Ida will strengthen quickly into a major hurricane, reaching 120 mph winds before landfall in the Mississippi River delta late Sunday, the hurricane center said.
If that forecast holds true, Ida
would hit 16 years to the day since Hurricane Katrina landed as a Category 3 storm with 125 mph winds near the riverside community of Buras in Plaquemines Parish, down the Mississippi from New Orleans.
Buras and New Orleans are among the places that show the highest probabilities for getting hit with hurricaneforce winds from Ida, the national hurricane center said.
People were getting ready in New Orleans on Friday, lining up for groceries, gas and ice, and the city was offering sandbags.
Traffic snarled at entrances to a New Orleans Costco, where dozens of cars were backed up at the gas pumps and shoppers wheeled out carts stacked with cases of bottled water and other essentials.
Retired police officer Wondell Smith,
who worked on the police force 16 years ago when Katrina hit, said he and his family were planning to stay, but were also getting ready to head farther inland if the forecasts worsened. He loaded water, bread and sandwich meat into his SUV.
“I know what that looks like,” Smith said, referring to the potential devastation. “This is my first time being home in 34 years of service. And I want to be prepared.”
Ida’s maximum sustained winds swiftly rose from 40 mph to 65 mph Friday morning as it approached Cuba. Tropical storm-force winds extended as far as 90 miles from the center.
A hurricane watch for New Orleans and an emergency declaration for the state of Louisiana were declared. Category 3 hurricanes are capable of causing devastating damage.