President Joe Biden says the federal government will surge into southeast Louisiana this morning to assist in rescue and recovery efforts. Matt Doyle has the story.
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Hurricane Ida is delivering a massive blow to southeast Louisiana with damaging winds, a powerful storm surge, and several inches of rain. Kevin Gallagher has more…
Cut 2 (35) “…I’m Kevin Gallagher”
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Those in Southeast Louisiana are waking up to survey damage from a historically powerful Hurricane Ida.
It’ll likely take the rest of the day to get a full accounting but already we know coastal communities were devastated, Laplace faced shockingly high levels of flooding, and the New Orleans Metro Area may be without power for an extended period. State Climatologist Barry Keim…
There are reports that parts of Livingston and Tangipahoa parish took on a foot of water in just a few hours.
Keim says it will take weeks or longer for the region to recover but because the levees surrounding New Orleans held and the rain totals stayed low we can be fairly sure we aren’t looking at the devastation on the level we saw from Katrina…
Over a million households and businesses are without power this morning. Keim says because the damage was so widespread it may take quite a while for everyone to get their lights back.
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President Joe Biden vows to put the country’s “full might” behind rescue and recovery efforts in southeast Louisiana in the wake of Hurricane Ida.
Biden says they’ve pre-positioned a number of federal assets including 2.5 million meals and three million liters of water. He says they have generators in place and are in contact with power companies…
The New Orleans region suffered “catastrophic” damage to the power grid, losing a transmission tower and all eight transmission lines serving New Orleans and the east bank of Jefferson Parish.
Biden says they’ve been praying for the best but planning for the worst and are ready to move in to help starting this morning. He says FEMA is ready to move in and assist ASAP…
Cut 7 (07) “…much prepartion.”
Biden says the federal government will be there to help the region get back on its feet, as long as it takes…
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Governor Edwards’ request for a Presidential Major Disaster Declaration was approved by President Biden. Edwards will not just rely on federal aid. The governor has activated the entire Louisiana National Guard, which means 49-hundred soldiers responding to this disaster
For those looking for a shelter, they can call 2-1-1 or text l-a shelter to 898 211. Edwards says they have sheltered 15-hundred evacuees, but more will be needed and they have a large space to do so, because of COVID…
As of 4 AM on Monday, Entergy is reporting over 855-thousand people are without power. The entire city of New Orleans does not have power. Edwards says the restoration effort will take some time…
Edwards says there will be 30-thousand linemen in the state to restore the power. He says hospitals, dialysis centers and buildings that are considered critical will be prioritized first.
Edwards says one of his biggest concerns is how many lives will they lose as a result of Ida…
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The levee system that protects New Orleans withstood Hurricane Ida’s life-threatening storm surge. U-S Army Corps of Engineers spokesperson Matt Roe says after Katrina the federal government spent 14.5 billion dollars on a system designed to reduce the damage from powerful hurricanes
Cut 13 (17) “…second line of defense.”
Roe says inside the ring of levees, they have a system of canals and pumps to remove water. He says the 130-mile ring built can withstand a storm surge of about 30 feet.
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…
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Over 850-thousand people are without power Monday morning. Entergy spokesperson David Freese says be prepared to be without power for several weeks as opposed to days.
Freese says the extreme restoration effort requires specialized equipment and they’ve brought in additional crews to assist.
Freese says first roads will have to be cleared of trees and debris before they can enter areas with heavy damage and they will have to use specialized vehicles to access those hard-to-reach areas.