Ida is down to a category two hurricane after making landfall earlier today as a powerful category four. The slow moving storm is currently moving through Livingston Parish blasting the Northshore with powerful winds and heavy rain.
A transmission tower that provides power for New Orleans and the east bank of Jefferson Parish reportedly collapsed into the Mississippi River a few hours ago plunging nearly all of the Greater New Orleans area into darkness and threatening the region’s ability to pump out water that was dumped in by Ida. At least 900,000 households across southeast Louisiana have lost power with that number almost certain to cross a million by the end of the hour.
Ochsner says they will be evacuating everyone from St. Anne Hospital in Raceland after Ida ripped off a portion of the facility’s roof and the building began taking on water.
The state confirms the first fatalitiy reportedly linked to Ida, a man in Acension parish who died after a tree fell on his home.
Governor Edwards has requested a Presidential Major Disaster Declaration as a result of the massive damage southeast Louisiana is experiencing from Hurricane Ida. In the meantime, Edwards has activated the entire Louisiana National Guard, which means 49-hundred soldiers are able to respond to this disaster
And despite the power woes plaguing New Orleans the city’s 15 billion dollar federal levee system appears to have passed a major test and held up against storm surge pumped in by Ida. U-S Army Corps of Engineers spokesperson Matt Roe says the levee system that protects the metro New Orleans area was built to protect against a 100-year level of storm surge, which is a surge that has a one-percent chance of happening…