Hurricane Ida: Louisiana braced for devastation as category 4 storm nears US coast

Hurricane Ida has become a dangerous category 4 hurricane on track for a potentially devastating landfall on the Louisiana coast, on the 16th anniversary of the catastrophic Hurricane Katrina.

State emergency officials have been scrambling to find hotel rooms and mass shelters for people forced to evacuate from the storm, with the hurricane expected to make landfall on Sunday afternoon.

Ida quickly gained strength as it moved into the northern Gulf, going from top winds of 115 mph to 145 mph just a few hours later.

The storm was centred about 65 miles south of the mouth of the Mississippi River and 80 miles south-southeast of costal Grand Isle, Louisiana. It was travelling northwest at 15 mph.

A category four hurricane is one level below the very highest category and Ida is predicted to bring a “life-threatening” storm surge and heavy rain.

The National Hurricane Center (NHC) said “potentially catastrophic wind damage and flooding rainfall will impact portions of the northern Gulf coast beginning later this [Sunday] morning.”

Tens of thousands of residents in coastal parts of south-east Louisiana were under mandatory evacuation orders while others have been urged to stock up on enough food and water for at least three days.

In New Orleans, mayor LaToya Cantrell ordered a mandatory evacuation for areas outside the city’s levee system and a voluntary evacuation for residents inside the levee system.

Louisiana governor John Bel Edwards warned the storm could be one of the biggest to hit the state in 150 years, adding that shelters would operate with reduced capacities “to reflect the realities of Covid”.

Addressing Louisiana’s residents on Saturday, the governor said: “Your window of time is closing. By the time you go to bed tonight you need to be where you intend to ride the storm out and you need to be as prepared as you can be, because weather will start to deteriorate very quickly tomorrow.”

President Joe Biden approved emergency declarations for Louisiana and Mississippi ahead of Ida’s expected arrival on Sunday – the exact same date that Hurricane Katrina ravaged the two states 16 years ago, killing more than 1,800 people.

Collin Arnold, director of the New Orleans Office of Homeland Security and Emergency Preparedness, told CNN: “August 29 is an important date in history here.

“A lot of people remember what happened 16 years ago. It’s time to hunker down tonight and be where you need to be.”