Hurricane Ida has been downgraded to a category two hurricane and is now past Laplace and should be in Livingston Parish within the hour.
The state is reporting the first confirmed Ida-related casualty. A man in Ascension Parish was killed when a tree fell on his home along LA 621 just north of Gonzales.
Over 900,000 people in Louisiana are now without power according to the Public Service Commission with a near total loss of lights in Acsension, Terrbebonne, LaFourche, Jefferson, The River Parishes, Orleans, and St. Bernard. About 70 percent of Livinginston, Tangipahoa, and St. Tammany are out.
These losses are likely to send many seeking shelter. Governor Edwards says that’s going be to a logistical problem it COVID still surging…
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State Climatologist Barry keim says Ida is one of the three most powerful systems to ever make landfall in the state…
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And unlike past storms Ida managed to maintain at major hurricane strength for hours as it piddled around in the marshlands of southeast Louisiana and butted up against a high pressure system that slowed it to a crawl. Keim says there’s a few reasons why Ida is still a powerful category two…
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