Louisiana Governor John Bel Edwards warned that Hurricane Ida will be “one of the strongest” since the 1850s. Edwards made the remark in a news briefing Saturday afternoon while providing an update on the trajectory of the storm.
The Governor cited the level of confidence the National Hurricane Center expressed in their current storm track, saying, “You don’t really hear them speaking very often about that level of confidence.”
“So, we can sum it up by saying this will be one of the strongest hurricanes to hit anywhere in Louisiana since at least the 1850s,” Edwards continued, reports The Hill.
“We can also tell you that your window of time is closing, it is rapidly closing,” Edwards said. “By the time you go to bed tonight, you need to be where you intend to ride this storm out and you need to be prepared as you can be.”
Ida is expected to bring winds as high as 130 mph (209 kph), life-threatening storm surge, and flooding rain when it slams ashore in Louisiana on Sunday. And as warm as the waters of the Gulf of Mexico is right now, the NHC says the Category 2 storm can explode into an extremely dangerous Category 4 hurricane in just 18 hours or less.
Thankfully, a lot of people are leaving southern and southeastern Louisiana after being warned to evacuate ahead of Hurricane Ida, which is expected to come ashore as an extremely dangerous Category 4 hurricane on Sunday.
According to local ABC affiliate 3WEAR-TV, many residents are crowding onto Interstate 10, heading to Pensacola, Florida. Take Anthony and Renee Gregory, who luckily don’t live directly in the path of the storm.
However, they say they’ve lived along the Gulf for less than 10 years so hurricanes are a new thing for them, and they’d rather be safe than sorry. They did stay home during Hurricane Zeta, and they won’t do that again.
“We learned from that that you don’t stay home, you do evacuate so that’s what we’re doing,” said Gregory. “It’s nerve-wracking and it is not an easy thing because you don’t know if you’re making the right decisions, the right direction, the right everything. It is hard. It’s a nerve-wracking situation.”
Get out now, or hunker down
State officials have been urging people to make the necessary preparations and not waste any time. New Orleans officials have urged citizens to either evacuate voluntarily or hunker down by the end of Saturday night.
“Finish gathering your supplies today,” said Collin Arnold, the Director of Homeland Security and Emergency Preparedness. “Including water, nonperishable items, flashlights, battery-powered radio, and medication for 72 hours.”
Not only is the storm expected to bring 10-15 inches of rain, but New Orleans has faced its fifth wettest spring in history, yet hasn’t seen substantial flooding. However, if the city receives a large amount of rain in a short amount of time, it could see flooding, warned Arnold.
