Cardinals-Saints canceled as Ida threatens Louisiana

Posted August 27, 2021 7:00 am

The Associated Press

FILE - Fans arrive at the Louisiana Superdome before an NFL football game between the New Orleans Saints and the New York Giants in New Orleans, in this Sunday, Oct. 18, 2009, file photo. Amid public and political scrutiny, the New Orleans Saints have adopted a new refund policy allowing fans to relinquish their season tickets and get their money back. (AP Photo/Patrick Semansky, File) The Associated Press

NEW ORLEANS (AP) - The New Orleans Saints canceled their home preseason game set for Saturday against the Arizona Cardinals because of the potential for Hurricane Ida to batter Louisiana's coast with wind as high as 140 mph by Sunday.

After initially moving kickoff up by seven hours, the Saints announced the subsequent decision Friday night to cancel the game came after consultation with city officials in New Orleans, Gov. John Bel Edwards, the National Weather Service, The Department of Homeland Security and the NFL.

Ida struck Cuba on Friday showing hallmarks of a rapidly intensifying storm that could speed across warm Gulf waters and slam into Louisiana as a Category 4 hurricane on Sunday, the National Hurricane Center warned.

If so, the storm would strike the Louisiana coast 16 years to the day after Hurricane Katrina leveled parts of the Mississippi Coast and ruptured storm protection levees around New Orleans on Aug. 29, 2005, causing about 80% of the city to be affected by flooding that in some neighborhoods left only roofs above water.

The Saints also had a preseason game the Saturday night before Katrina struck little more than 24 hours later and the team wound up being displaced to San Antonio for all of the 2005 regular season. The Saints played just four home games in Louisiana that year, all at LSU's Tiger Stadium in Baton Rouge. The Saints also played three home games in San Antonio's Alamo Dome and one in Giants Stadium.

New Orleans' levee system has been rebuilt and upgraded since Katrina, but marshlands that historically helped protect the city from storm surge have steadily thinned because of coastal erosion, and the city's pumping system has struggled in recent years to handle heavy rains before it fills streets and sometimes invades homes and businesses in certain neighborhoods, some of which lie below sea level.

Saturday's game with Arizona was to be the preseason finale for both clubs, a day after an Associated Press source confirmed an earlier ESPN report Friday that the club had decided to make Jameis Winston its Week 1 starter at quarterback.

The Saints are scheduled to open the regular season in the Superdome against Green Bay on Sept. 12.

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Long lines are seen at a gas station in Jefferson, La., as people prepare for the arrival of Hurricane Ida on Friday, Aug. 27, 2021. Forecasters now say Ida could be a major Category 3 hurricane with top winds of 115 mph when it nears the U.S. coast. (Chris Granger/The Times-Picayune/The New Orleans Advocate via AP) The Associated Press

This GOES-16 East GeoColor satellite image taken Thursday, Aug. 26, 2021, at 10:20 p.m. EDT, and provided by NOAA, shows Tropical Storm Ida in the Caribbean Sea. Tropical Storm Ida formed in the Caribbean on Thursday and forecasters said its track was aimed at the U.S. Gulf Coast, prompting Louisiana's governor to declare a state of emergency and forecasters to announce a hurricane watch for New Orleans. (NOAA via AP) The Associated Press

A New Orleans Saints cheerleader performs in the newly re-named Caesar's Superdome before an NFL preseason football game against the Jacksonville Jaguars in New Orleans, Monday, Aug. 23, 2021. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert) The Associated Press

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