Hurricane Ida is on its way out of the state north out of St. Helena and East Feliciana Parishes, still as a category one hurricane. Kevin Gallagher reports the state government is ready to move in to begin recovery once the sun rises on a battered Bayou State…
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President Biden approved Governor Edwards’ request for a President Major Disaster Declaration, clearing the way for a massive influx of federal aid.
Despite a historic battering the federal levee system around the New Orleans area held strong and kept Ida from recreating the worst of Hurricane Katrina’s citywide flooding. U-S Army Corps of Engineers spokesperson Matt Roe says that’s because after Katrina the federal government spent 14.5 billion dollars on a system designed to reduce the damage from powerful hurricanes
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Over a million households and businesses are without power this morning. State Climatologist Barry Keim says because the damage was so widespread it may take quite a while for everyone to get their lights back.
So far only one confirmed death from Ida, that being an ascension parish man who died when a tree hit his home.