The National Hurricane Center is warning residents along Louisiana’s coast to rush preparations Saturday in anticipation of an intensifying Hurricane Ida, which is expected to bring winds as high as 140 mph (225 kph) when it slams ashore on Sunday.
At the 10:00 a.m. advisory, Ida was 350 miles south-southeast of the mouth of the Mississippi River, moving to the northwest at 16 mph and packing maximum sustained winds of 85 mph. The storm’s minimum central pressure is now 984 mb or 29.06 inches.
Louisiana Gov. John Bel Edwards urged residents to quickly prepare, saying: “By nightfall tomorrow night, you need to be where you intend to be to ride out the storm.”
New Orleans Mayor LaToya Cantrell ordered a mandatory evacuation for a small area of the city outside the levee system, according to the Associated Press. But with the storm intensifying so much over a short time, she said it wasn’t possible to do so for the entire city. That would usually call for using all lanes of some highways to leave the city.
The storm is expected to make landfall on the exact date Hurricane Katrina devastated a large swath of the Gulf Coast exactly 16 years earlier.
Capt. Ross Eichorn, a fishing guide on the coast about 70 miles (112 kilometers) southwest of New Orleans, said he fears warm Gulf waters will “make a monster” out of Ida.
“With a direct hit, ain’t no telling what’s going to be left — if anything,” Eichorn said. He added: “Anybody that isn’t concerned has got something wrong with them.”
A hurricane warning is posted from Intracoastal City, Louisiana, eastward to the mouth of the Pearl River, including Lake Pontchartrain, Lake Maurepas, and the New Orleans metro area.
A tropical storm warning is posted from Cameron, Louisiana east to Intracoastal City, Louisiana, and from the Pearl River in Louisiana to the Alabama/Florida border. Tropical storm conditions are expected to begin here tonight.
Dangerous flooding from storm surge is possible
The following storm surge inundations are possible if the peak surge happens at high tide, according to the National Hurricane Center (NHC):
-Morgan City, Louisiana, to the mouth of the Mississippi River: 10 to 15 feet
-The mouth of the Mississippi River to Ocean Springs, Mississippi, including Lake Borgne: 7 to 11 feet
-Intracoastal City, Louisiana, to Morgan City, Louisiana, including Vermilion Bay: 6 to 9 feet
-Ocean Springs, Mississippi, to the Mississippi-Alabama border: 4 to 7 feet
-Lake Pontchartrain: 4 to 7 feet
-Lake Maurepas: 3 to 5 feet
-Pecan Island, Louisiana, to Intracoastal City, Louisiana: 3 to 5 feet
-Mississippi/Alabama border to Alabama/Florida border, including Mobile Bay: 2 to 4 feet
-Sabine Pass to Pecan Island, Louisiana: 2 to 4 feet
As for winds, the NHC is saying wind damage could be “potentially catastrophic” near where the core of Ida makes landfall in Louisiana. Tropical-storm-force winds can be expected to hit inland into parts of Louisiana and Mississippi at least through Monday.
Widespread flash flooding, particularly where bands of rain stall for a period of a few hours, is expected along the path of Ida. Heavy rain will also lead to river flooding. Southeast Louisiana and southern Mississippi could see 8 to 16 inches of rain with isolated 20-inch totals through Monday.
