Weather Outside Your Window: Hurricane Ida leaves Louisiana flooded, drove 'final dagger' into town

By Mark Puleo, AccuWeather staff writer

Published Aug. 30, 2021 1:29 PM EDT | Updated Aug. 31, 2021 9:46 AM EDT

August 29 is not a day to celebrate in Louisiana. On the 16th anniversary of Hurricane Katrina's devastation, Hurricane Ida brewed up its own tragedies on Sunday afternoon, drawing dangerously similar comparisons to its predecessor.

In what could very well be the 2021 season's most devastating hurricane, Ida has left much of the southeastern portion of Louisiana underwater and without power, and authorities are scrambling to reach those affected by the hurricane's wrath.

Upon developing into the year's second major hurricane, Ida reached Category 4 strength and slammed into the marshy coast of Louisiana in the town of Port Fourchon, less than 50 miles from where Katrina made landfall. But while most systems quickly weaken overland, Ida took its time, spending 16 hours as a whirling hurricane before dropping to tropical storm strength early Monday.

As of Monday morning, the hurricane was blamed for at least one death. The fatality occurred outside Baton Rouge in Prairieville, where a man was killed after a tree fell on his home, the Ascension Parish Sheriff’s Office reported on Sunday.

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Theophilus Charles, 70, weeps while sitting on the front porch of his heavily damaged home in the aftermath of Hurricane Ida in Houma, Louisiana, U.S., August 30, 2021. Charles, who hunkered down in the house through the category 4 storm, says he has now lost everything. REUTERS/Adrees Latif

Reports of injuries and possible fatalities are expected to continue to emerge on early this week, as accounts of treacherous rescues from Sunday night come to light. In St. John Parish, multiple residents in the town of LaPlace were trapped in their attics on Monday morning, reminiscent of the tragedies that claimed many lives during Katrina.

"We have one confirmed death, but I don't want to mislead anyone. Robust search and rescue is happening right now, and I fully expect that that death count will go up considerably throughout the day," Lousiana Gov. John Bel Edwards said in an interview with MSNBC.

On Monday evening, a second death was confirmed. This second fatality occurred in New Orleans when a man drowned after attempting to cross floodwaters near Interstate 10, according to the Louisiana Department of Health. Two additional deaths were confirmed as a result of Ida on Monday night. The fatalities occurred after a section of a highway in Mississippi was washed out following Ida's heavy rain.

While 911 dispatchers have been answering calls, there have been no ways for emergency crews to reach the endangered residents in LaPlace, WWLTV reported. On social media, one man posted that he was out rescuing people all night but had “people drown” in his arms near LaPlace. Another user added that he was doing CPR on a drowning victim.

On Bamboo Road in LaPlace, resident Tiffany Miller spoke with WDSU while she sheltered in her attic, telling reporters that she believes there was 3 to 5 feet of floodwater in the homes of her subdivision.

"When we got in the attic, the water was right below my knees," Miller said. "For the water to get that high in my house, the water outside needs to be at least waist deep."

Near the coast, the city of Houma, which is located about 60 miles southwest of New Orleans, was dealt some of the most severe damage, as pelting rain created zero visibility and debris went flying. It was there where Extreme Meteorologist Reed Timmer recorded wreckage from a tattered roof sprawled across a street, crashing into a nearby utility pole.

Houma was home to some of the storm’s strongest wind speeds as well, with gusts reaching 148 mph at nearby Grand Isle. The strongest wind gust recording of the storm occurred at the spot of landfall in Port Fourchon, which topped out at 172 mph, equivalent to that of a Category 5 hurricane if it was sustained.

The 172-mph reading was recorded by instrumentation onboard a ship docked at Port Fourchon and was later confirmed by the National Weather Service, verifying that Ida’s strength was that of a dangerously strong Category 4 hurricane.

In New Orleans, where residents of the Big Easy hadn't quickly forgotten Hurricane Zeta's impacts from 10 months ago, let alone the trauma of Katrina, Ida's forceful winds left numerous buildings roofless and spewed debris throughout the city. As of Monday morning, the entire city was without power due to what was deemed "catastrophic transmission damage," the city’s Office of Homeland Security & Emergency Preparedness said in a tweet.

More than 1 million customers were without power throughout Sunday evening and Monday morning, as well as over 100,000 in neighboring Mississippi.

The power outages were also at fault for the blanketing collapses of 911 phone lines in Orleans and St. Charles parishes. In Orleans Parish, the Emergency Communications Center shared on Monday morning that if stranded residents are in need of rescue, the most reliable strategy was to "go to your nearest fire station or approach your nearest officer."

The strength of Ida's winds are largely to blame for that catastrophic transmission damage. Upon undergoing rapid intensification, the hurricane reached maximum sustained winds of 150 mph at landfall with a central atmospheric pressure of 27.46 inches of mercury (930 millibars), tying Hurricane Laura for the strongest winds of any hurricane on record in Louisiana and ranking second only to Katrina for lowest pressure.

President Joe Biden on Monday pledged extensive federal resources to aid with recovery from Ida in the affected regions. Speaking at a virtual briefing on Hurricane Ida, CNBC reported, Biden said that at least 5,000 members of the National Guard had been activated across the southeastern U.S. to help with recovery and more than 25,000 electrical workers from 30 states were on the way to help get the power back on. “We’re there to help you get back on your feet,” the president said.

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Extreme Meteorologist Reed Timmer surveys damage as Ida’s inner eyewall moves into Houma, Louisiana, on Aug. 29.

Along with the incomparable winds, the storm’s deluge of rain and storm surge inundated the region with flooding. One side effect of that rush of water was an intense rising of water levels in the Mississippi River. According to USGS hydrologists, the river level rose about 7 feet on Sunday due to the storm surge, forcing the river to temporarily flow in the opposite direction.

"During that time, the flow of the river slowed from about 2 feet per second down to about half a foot per second in the other direction," hydrologist Scott Perrien told CNN.

The heavy flooding also triggered the need for emergency water rescues in lower Jefferson Parish. The storm’s most intense rain fell in the area of Lake Ponchatrain, where up to 18 inches of precipitation were recorded. In the nearby town of Jean Lafitte, Mayor Tim Kerner told WGNO that the devastation was the worst he had ever seen.

“It's catastrophic,” he said. “Our town levees have been overtopped. I have never seen so much water in my life. It's turned into a total rescue mission. People's lives are at stake now.”

Kerner said that waters topping the 7.5-foot-tall floodwall protecting the town was the “final dagger” for residents, which includes about 200 people stranded in Barataria after a breakaway barge destroyed the connecting bridge to the island.

While there were mandatory evacuation orders in place for many areas, many residents made the decision to stay.

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In the New Orleans area of Treme, longtime resident Martha Wiggins told AccuWeather National Reporter Bill Wadell that Ida was one of the biggest hurricanes she’s ever lived through. She told Wadell that she was thankful that many residents took the warnings seriously but explained why many had no choice but to stay.

“Evacuating is expensive and not everybody has the ability to do it, not everybody has the ability to stay at a hotel like I did,” she said. “I think people have to kind of weigh out their options." She added that, unfortunately, it comes down to money for a lot of people. "I would hope that people were able to do whatever made them feel the most comfortable, the most safe, and for some people it is staying home.”