9/30/2021- 8:22 p.m.
President Biden has declared a disaster in Louisiana after Hurricane Ida made landfall, knocking out power to 1 million people in the state.
The storm came with destructive winds topping 100 miles an hour and dumped dangerous amounts of water on the region as it made landfall just west of New Orleans as a Category 4 hurricane.
Energy officials in the state said it could be weeks before power is fully restored, saying on that “catastrophic transmission damage” led to widespread power outages in New Orleans.
Electric utilities reported that slightly more than 1 million homes and businesses were without power in Louisiana and another 100,000 in Mississippi.
Entergy New Orleans, the main power utility in the city, with nearly 200,000 customers, said the entire city lost electricity early Sunday evening because of “catastrophic damage” to its transmission system.
It said power wouldn’t be restored Sunday night.
“We are ending what was a terrifying night for many individuals waiting for their rescue,” she said. “Today is the day we are going to see the damage.”
The National Hurricane Center said that the rain and storm surge has “resulted in catastrophic impacts along the southeast coast of Louisiana.”
It warned of dangerous storm surges and flash floods around southeastern Louisiana and southern Mississippi after Ida made landfall as one of the strongest storms in U.S. history.
