US bracing for 鈥榩owerful, dangerous鈥 Hurricane Ida
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Hurricane Ida was expected to make landfall in the United States yesterday as an 鈥渆xtremely dangerous鈥 Category 4 storm that could plunge much of the Louisiana shoreline under water as the state grapples with a COVID-19 surge already taxing hospitals.
The storm intensified faster than officials had predicted on Saturday, as residents of the Gulf Coast evacuated and businesses shut down. It gathered more strength overnight.
Louisiana Governor John Bel Edwards said on Saturday that the storm could be the state鈥檚 worst direct hit by a hurricane since the 1850s.
Southern Louisiana is still reeling from the effects of Hurricane Laura a year ago. The state also has the nation鈥檚 third-highest incidence of COVID-19 cases per 100,000 people over the past seven days.
By early yesterday, Ida was a Category 4 hurricane on the five-step Saffir-Simpson scale, the National Hurricane Center said. At 7am it was located about 85 kilometers southwest of the mouth of the Mississippi River, carrying top sustained winds of up to 240km per hour.
Rain gusted through New Orleans yesterday morning, where Robert Ruffin, a retired 68-year-old man, had evacuated with his family to a downtown hotel from their home in the city鈥檚 east.
鈥淚 thought it was safer,鈥 he said. 鈥淚t鈥檚 double trouble this time because of COVID.鈥
Ida鈥檚 landfall was only a few hours away, according to the NHC, which warned of life-threatening storm surges, potentially catastrophic wind damage and flooding rainfall.
Louisiana was devastated 16 years ago this week by Hurricane Katrina, which killed more than 1,800 people.
The state is not planning to evacuate hospitals now strained by an influx of COVID-19 patients, Edwards said.
鈥淭he implications of having a Category 4 storm while hospitals are full are beyond what we normally contemplate,鈥 Edwards said.
There were more than 3,400 new COVID-19 cases reported on Friday, and about 2,700 people are hospitalized with the virus.
Officials ordered widespread evacuations of low-lying and coastal areas, jamming highways and leading some gasoline stations to run dry as residents and vacationers fled the seashore.
鈥淭his is a powerful and dangerous storm,鈥 said Joseph Kanter, Louisiana鈥檚 chief medical official.
鈥淚t is moving faster than we had thought it would be, so we have a little less time to prepare.鈥
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