Hurricane Ida rapidly intensified in the early hours of Sunday, becoming an extremely dangerous Category 4 storm headed for landfall on the coast of the US state of Louisiana on the 16th anniversary of Hurricane Katrina.
The US National Hurricane Center had predicted Ida would become a Category 4 storm with winds up to 130 miles (209 kilometers) per hour, which happened as the storm moved north through the Gulf of Mexico.
New Orleans Mayor LaToya Cantrell urged the city’s 390,000 residents to evacuate, stating, “Time is not on our side.”
Hospitals are preparing to ride out the storm due to a lack of hospital beds because of a surge in COVID-19 cases attributable to the delta variant. Officials also expressed concerns that shelters could become hotbeds of infection if residents did not wear face masks.
With the COVID surge straining local public health systems, shelters will also not operate at full capacity.
Worst hurricane since the 1850s
Louisiana Governor John Bel Edwards warned the storm was set to be the worst to hit the state in 160 years.
While levees have been strengthened since Katrina hit the southern US in August 2005, flooding is still possible with up to 20 inches (50 centimeters) of rain forecast in some areas.
In addition to preparing hospitals and shelters, 5,000 National Guard troops have been called up and are preparing in 14 Louisiana parishes for search and rescue operations. As widespread power outages are anticipated, 10,000 electrical linemen are on standby to respond.
Hurricane hitting amid huge spike in COVID cases
Currently, Louisiana has the third-highest incidence of COVID-19 cases per 100,000 people in the US over the last seven days due in large measure to the delta variant. More than 3,400 new infections were reported on Friday and around 2,700 people have been hospitalized with the virus.
“We have been talking to hospitals to make sure that their generators are working, that they have way more water on hand than normal, that they have PPE on hand,” said Edwards, adding however that Louisiana’s “resilient and tough people” could weather the storm as they had Katrina 16 years ago.
Barbara Casterlin, a shelter manager, told The Associated Press that workers were required to wear face masks while evacuees were encouraged to do the same. Anyone who refuses masks will be sent to an isolated area along with people who are sick, she said.
“We’re not checking vaccinations, but we are doing temperature checks two or three times a day,” Casterlin said.
Powering down before the storm hits
The US Department of Energy map of oil and gas infrastructure shows plenty of low-lying sites in Ida’s projected path that could be potentially vulnerable to flooding.
In preparation for Ida, US energy companies have reduced offshore oil production by 91%, and gasoline refiners have cut operations at Louisiana plants in the path of the storm.
There was bumper-to-bumper traffic on Interstate 10 out of New Orleans on Saturday
Traffic snaked as a line of backed-up cars got stuck in traffic along Interstate 10 heading out of New Orleans on Saturday. The route to Baton Rouge is a critical hub of America’s petrochemical industry, crowded with oil refineries, natural gas terminals and chemical manufacturing plants.
Regional fuel prices have already increased with cuts to production and the increased demand resulting from widespread evacuations.
Locals prepare for devastation
Meteorologist Jeff Masters who flew hurricane missions for the government and founded Weather Underground told AP that Ida is forecast to move through “the just absolute worst place for a hurricane.”
In New Orleans, local watchmaker Eric Suriano told the AFP news agency that Hurricane Katrina “was the nightmare of my life.”
“Everybody is scared because it’s the anniversary of Katrina and people didn’t take it seriously at the time,” said his son, Austin, as they boarded up Eric’s watch repair shop.
New Orleans residents boarded up shops with plywood before the arrival of Hurricane Ida
In Gulfport, Mississippi, at the edge of where Ida was expected to make landfall, Alex and Angela Bennett of Saucier, Mississippi spent Saturday filling up sandbags to put around their home.
“Katrina was terrible. This ain’t gonna be nothing,” said Alex.
“I hate it for Louisiana, but I’m happy for us,” he added.
ar/mm (AFP, AP, Reuters)
Article source: https://www.dw.com/en/hurricane-ida-us-southern-gulf-prepares-for-devastating-storm/a-59018462?maca=en-rss-en-all-1573-rdf