News

Hurricane Ida traps Louisianans, leaves electrical grid a shambles

Posted August 30, 2021 1:00 am

By REBECCA SANTANA, KEVIN McGILL and JANET McCONNAUGHEY

Traffic diverts around downed power lines Monday, Aug. 30, 2021, in Metairie, La. A fearsome Hurricane Ida has left scores of coastal Louisiana residents trapped by floodwaters and pleading to be rescued, while making a shambles of the electrical grid across a wide swath of the state in the sweltering, late-summer heat. One of the most powerful hurricanes ever to hit the U.S. mainland has now weakened into a tropical storm as it pushes inland over Mississippi with torrential rain and shrieking winds. (AP Photo/Steve Helber)

Associated Press

NEW ORLEANS (AP) - Rescuers set out in hundreds of boats and helicopters to reach people trapped by floodwaters and utility crews mobilized Monday after a furious Hurricane Ida swamped the Louisiana coast and made a shambles of the electrical grid in the sticky, late-summer heat.

One of the most powerful hurricanes ever to hit the U.S. mainland weakened into a tropical storm overnight as it pushed inland over Mississippi with torrential rain and shrieking winds, its danger far from over.

Ida was blamed for at least one death - someone hit by a falling tree outside Baton Rouge. But with many roads impassable and cellphone service knocked out in places, the full extent of its fury was still coming into focus.

Christina Stephens, a spokesperson for Gov. John Bel Edwards, said that given the level of destruction, "We're going to have many more confirmed fatalities."

The governor's office said damage to the power grid appeared "catastrophic." And officials warned it could be weeks before power is fully restored.

"For the most part, all of our levees performed extremely well - especially the federal levees - but at the end of the day, the storm surge, the rain, the wind all had devastating impacts," Edwards said. "We have tremendous damage to homes and to businesses."

All of New Orleans lost power right around sunset Sunday as the hurricane blew ashore on the 16th anniversary of Katrina, leading to an uneasy night of pouring rain and howling wind.

When daylight came, streets were littered with tree branches and some roads were blocked. While it was still early, there were no immediate reports of the catastrophic flooding city officials had feared.

"I had a long miserable night," said Chris Atkins, who was in his New Orleans home when he heard a "ka-boom" and all the sheetrock in the living room fell into the house. A short time later, the whole side of the living room fell onto his neighbor's driveway.

"Lucky the whole thing didn't fall inward. It would have killed us," he said.

Four Louisiana hospitals were damaged and 39 medical facilities were operating on generator power, the Federal Emergency Management Agency said.

The governor's office said over 2,200 evacuees were staying in 41 shelters as of Monday morning, a number expected to rise as people were rescued or escaped from flooded homes. Stephens said the state will work to move people to hotels as soon as possible so that they can keep their distance from one another.

"This is a COVID nightmare," she said, adding: "We do anticipate that we could see some COVID spikes related to this."

Interstate 10 between New Orleans and Baton Rouge - the main east-west route along the Gulf Coast - was closed because of flooding, with the water reported to be 4 feet deep at one spot, officials said.

An area just west of New Orleans got about 17 inches (43 centimeters) of rain in 20 hours, Greg Carbin of NOAA's Weather Prediction Center tweeted.

Amid the maze of rivers and bayous around the New Orleans area, people retreated to their attics or rooftops and posted their addresses on social media with instructions for search-and-rescue teams on where to find them.

The Louisiana National Guard said it activated 4,900 Guard personnel and lined up 195 high-water vehicles, 73 rescue boats and 34 helicopters. Local and state agencies were adding hundreds of more.

Jefferson Parish in suburban New Orleans knew of 500 people who said they were going to stay in areas that were flooded, and it began sending out dozens of boats, Parish Council member Deano Bonano told WWL-TV.

More than a million customers in Louisiana and Mississippi were without power, according to PowerOutage.US, which tracks outages nationwide. That left them without air conditioning and refrigeration in the dog days of summer, with highs forecast in the mid-80s on Monday, climbing to nearly 90 by Wednesday.

"We don't know if the damage is extensive. We don't know if the damage is something we can get up quickly," Entergy New Orleans CEO Deanna Rodriguez told WWL-TV.

The hurricane twisted and collapsed a giant transmission tower in Jefferson Parish along the Mississippi River, and the wires fell into the river, causing widespread outages and halting river traffic, parish Emergency Management Director Joe Valiente said.

The tower, which survived Katrina in 2005, is one of eight ways power is brought into New Orleans, and the failure of one of them might have led the others to shut down as well, Rodriguez said.

Other areas were also in the dark, with the storm flattening telephone poles and trees bringing down power lines.

Valiente told NPR that the entire power grids collapsed in about 10 parishes and that it could take six weeks to fully restore power.

Edwards said on Sunday that 30,000 utility workers were in the state to help restore electricity.

AT&T's phone system was down all across southeastern Louisiana. Many people resorted to using walkie-talkies. The governor's office staff had no working phones.

People who evacuated struggled to check on those who didn't leave. Charchar Chaffold left from her home near LaPlace, Louisiana, for Alabama after a tree fell on her place on Sunday. She frantically tried to get in touch with five family members who stayed behind.

She last heard from them Sunday night. They were in the attic after water rushed into their home. Chaffold tried texting, but she didn't know if their phones were dead and or service was out.

"They told me they thought they was going to die, I told them they are not and called for help," Chaffold said.

Farther south, emergency officials had not heard from Grand Isle since Sunday afternoon. About 40 people stayed on the barrier island, which took the brunt of the hurricane and was swamped by seawater, Jefferson Parish President Cynthia Lee Sheng told NBC.

Ida's 150 mph (230 kph) winds tied it for the fifth-strongest hurricane ever to hit the mainland. Its winds were down to 45 mph (72 kph) early Monday.

In Mississippi's southwestern corner, entire neighborhoods were surrounded by floodwaters, and many roads were impassable.

Ida was expected to pick up speed Monday night before dumping rain on the Tennessee and Ohio River valleys Tuesday, the Appalachian mountain region Wednesday and the nation's capital on Thursday.

Forecasters said flash flooding and mudslides are possible along Ida's path before it blows out to sea over New England on Friday.

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Associated Press writers Jay Reeves in Gulfport, Mississippi; Emily Wagster Pettus in Jackson, Mississippi; Seth Borenstein in Kensington, Maryland; Michael Biesecker in Washington; Sudhin Thanawala in Atlanta; and Jeffrey Collins in Columbia, South Carolina. contributed to this report.

A collapsed historical building is seen on S. Rampart St. in New Orleans, La., early Monday, Aug. 30, 2021. Hurricane Ida became a tropical storm as its top winds slowed over Mississippi on Monday, while across southeast Louisiana residents waited for daylight to be rescued from floodwaters and see how much damage was caused by one of the most powerful hurricanes ever to strike the U.S. mainland. All of New Orleans lost power right around sunset Sunday, leading to an uneasy night of pouring rain and howling winds. (Max Becherer/The Advocate via AP)

Greg Nazarko, manager of the Bourbon Bandstand bar on Bourbon Street, leans against a pole outside the club where he rode out Hurricane Ida that knocked out power in New Orleans, Monday, Aug. 30, 2021. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert)

New Orleans Police detective Alexander Reiter, looks over debris from a building that collapsed during Hurricane Ida in New Orleans, Monday, Aug. 30, 2021. Hurricane Ida knocked out power to all of New Orleans and inundated coastal Louisiana communities on a deadly path through the Gulf Coast that is still unfolding and promises more destruction. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert)

Downtown buildings relying on generator power are seen as the entire city of New Orleans is without power in the aftermath of Hurricane Ida in New Orleans, Monday, Aug. 30, 2021. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert)

Greg Nazarko, manager of the Bourbon Bandstand bar on Bourbon Street, stands outside the club, where he rode out the storm, after Hurricane Ida that knocked out power in New Orleans, Monday, Aug. 30, 2021. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert)

A man walks down Bourbon Street after the city lost power in the aftermath Hurricane Ida in New Orleans, Monday, Aug. 30, 2021. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert)

A woman walks down Bourbon Street in the French Quarter in the aftermath of Hurricane Ida in New Orleans after leaving the city without power, Monday, Aug. 30, 2021. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert)

Downtown buildings are lit by backup generators after Hurricane Ida knocked out power to the city, Monday, Aug. 30, 2021, in New Orleans, La. (AP Photo/Eric Gay)

A blown down sign lies on the street along Bourbon Street in the French Quarter after Hurricane Ida knocked out power to the city, Monday, Aug. 30, 2021, in New Orleans, La. Some businesses, hotels and homes are running on back up generators. (AP Photo/Eric Gay)

A police officer patrols past woman walking along Bourbon Street in the French Quarter after Hurricane Ida knocked out power to the city, Monday, Aug. 30, 2021, in New Orleans, La. (AP Photo/Eric Gay)

A young girl blocks her face from the wind and rain produced by Hurricane Ida, Sunday, Aug. 29, 2021, in New Orleans, La. (AP Photo/Eric Gay)

An abandoned vehicle is half submerged in a ditch next to a near flooded highway as the outer bands of Hurricane Ida arrive Sunday, Aug. 29, 2021, in Bay Saint Louis, Miss. (AP Photo/Steve Helber)

This satellite image provided by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and captured by NOAA's GOES-16 shows Hurricane Ida making landfall near Port Fourchon, La., Sunday, Aug. 29, 2021. (NOAA via AP)

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