Flooding now the focus as Ida is downgraded
Hurricane becomes a tropical storm after smashing through Louisiana; dozens of rivers top their banks
Her Dodge Charger floated away. After a long night in LaPlace, La., the floating car was the last straw. It was time for Jaki Sikaffy and her family to get to higher ground.
Sikaffy, her partner Solomon Smith and their nearly 3-year-old pup, Walle, had spent Sunday night hunkered together on their washer and dryer to weather Hurricane Ida’s wrath.
The winds screamed, and the rain pummeled their home. They got little sleep curled up together on their appliances for 12 hours.
What do you do when water inside your home is up to your kneecaps and you’re barefoot?
By Monday morning, the flood, not the hurricane winds, had become the thing to fear.
As the danger from wind passed, residents like Sikaffy and Smith braced for major flooding and sought higher elevation. Hurricane Ida lost some of its intensity and became a tropical storm Monday.
The National Weather Service said flooding has occurred on more than 50 river gauges it monitors in the region, from Baton Rouge, Louisiana, to Biloxi, Mississippi, and up into central Mississippi. Jackson County, Mississippi, reported an estimated 300 homes affected by rising water and 150 road closures.
Much of Hurricane Ida’s early damage was in Louisiana. A levee was overtopped in Plaquemines Parish. A barge bashed into a bridge in Lafitte. Fires burned through homes in Metairie. Winds ripped with roof off the Lady of Sea Hospital in Galliano. All
roads in Lafourche Parish were declared impassable.
More than a million residents were without power in Louisiana on Monday.
Louisiana residents trapped in their homes texted their addresses to first responders, some of whom had to wait for morning light and the roads to clear before starting rescue efforts.
Biden OKs disaster declaration
Ida made landfall Sunday afternoon on the coast of Louisiana as a Category 4 hurricane, the fifth-largest to hit the U.S. mainland in history. One person died in Prairieville, La., after a tree fell on a home, and another person drowned in New Orleans.
“I fully expect the death count will go up significantly throughout the day,” Louisiana Gov. John Bel Edwards said.
Sunday was the 16th anniversary of Hurricane Katrina making landfall and wreaking havoc for months after the storm was gone, killing more than 1,800 people, flooding New Orleans, bursting levees, knocking out power and leaving some neighborhoods still in disrepair today.
On Sunday, President Joe Biden approved Louisiana's disaster declaration, freeing up federal funding for storm relief as officials now assess the damage of Hurricane Ida.
The hurricane hit with such force that it briefly reversed the currents of the Mississippi River near Belle Chase. The same happened during Katrina in 2005.
Ida destroyed the second home of jazz legend Louis Armstrong. The building, which housed the Karnofsky Tailor Shop, opened in 1913 with a residence on top. Armstrong moved in with the Karnofskys at a young age. The family also employed him. They gave him a small tin horn to help attract prospective customers to their business.
Rain kept pounding
Soon after sunrise, Sikaffy and Smith surveyed the damage to their home. Ida's winds peeled their roof back. The stained glass windows in the bathroom were smashed.
They heard more rain was on the way, and they worried the floodwaters would continue to rise.
What they did next was something they never thought they would have to do on the street in front of their home. They jumped in a boat.
The heaviest rain – up to 18 inches – fell to the northwest and southwest of Lake Pontchartrain, as Ida began its turn to the north, moving at 9 mph. St. John the Baptist Parish, where Sikaffy and Smith live, had some of the highest rain totals.
Major flooding occurred along the Tangipahoa, Tchefuncte and the Bogue Falaya rivers. The waterways were forecast to crest overnight or Tuesday, without reaching record heights. The Tchefuncte River at Covington was forecast to get very close to the record set in February 1998.
Flash flooding also happened in Harrison, Jackson and Pearl River counties in Mississippi, where rain was forecast to continue Monday. An additional 2 to 5 inches was possible Tuesday in Mississippi, the National Weather Service forecast.
Along the Gulf Coast, the potential for storm surge remains Tuesday morning in Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama, including 4-6 feet of surge in Lake Pontchartrain and Lake Maurepas, according to the National Hurricane Center forecast.
By Monday, the winds that tore through Sikaffy and Smith's home faded from 150 mph to 65 as the eye of the storm moved into Mississippi. Flash flood warnings were issued for southern Mississippi from Gulfport to Hattiesburg.
Hospitals hit hard
The storm slowed down slightly as it made its way over land and across the Mississippi River, causing massive power outages in southwestern Mississippi, primarily in Adams, Wilkinson, Amite and Pike counties.
Most of Mississippi's U.S. 90 highway was underwater.
“We're prepared to move people into hotels until they can get back into their homes,” Deanne Criswell, a Federal Emergency Management Agency administrator, said on MSNBC.
Criswell said FEMA got reports at first light Monday of “widespread structural damage” in Louisiana along the Gulf Coast and from New Orleans to Baton Rouge.
Because Ida happened during a surge of coronavirus, hospital officials were concerned about people currently being treated. The Associated Press reported that generators were keeping ventilators running in intensive care units in many Louisiana hospitals where power had been lost.
Ochsner Health announced Sunday night it would evacuate dozens of patients from two hospitals in Terrebonne and Lafourche parishes after Ida shattered windows and peeled off roofs, exposing patient rooms.
St. Charles Hospital was evacuated at 8:30 a.m. Monday, according to reports on Facebook.
One of the hardest hit regions was Terrebonne Parish, where Sheriff Tim Soignet reported “catastrophic damage.”
Soignet said electricity and water utilities were not functioning in Terrebonne. All roads were blocked by down trees, utility poles and other debris, making the roads impassable, he said.
We need a boat
“I fully expect the death count will go up.” Louisiana Gov. John Bel Edwards
Hurricane Ida was enough to make Sikaffy consider getting a boat.
“They make me want to invest in a boat and be a good Samaritan, for next time,” Sikaffy said as she watched one putter under the overpass. “Lord, bless them for the work they're doing.”
The boat picked up Sikaffy, Smith and Walle (who stayed in Smith's arms), and took them to a nearby hotel. They were turned away.
That hotel was full, and it didn't have power. Complicating matters, the rescue boat zipped away.
So they made another decision. They started walking.
“So we thought we'd take our chances on the road,” Smith said, as he braced himself against the winds, clutching Walle under his arm.
The couple looked down on Main Street from the Interstate 10 bridge Monday morning. The wind whipped Sikaffy's hair and pushed Walle's fur. They carried several backpacks filled with what supplies weren't ruined and food for Walle.
Then they set out for Kenner, where Sikaffy's mother lives, 30 miles away.