Jonathan Erdman
Hurricane Ida roared ashore in Louisiana at Category 4 strength Sunday, and while it joined an exclusive club of past Cat. 4 landfalls in the state, it marked the first time it had happened in back-to-back hurricane seasons there.
Ida's center moved inland over southeast Louisiana around midday Sunday, with maximum sustained winds of 150 mph – a high-end Category 4 hurricane on the Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Wind Scale.
Satellite and radar composite of Hurricane Ida's landfall near Port Fourchon, Louisiana, at 11:55 a.m. CDT, Sunday, Aug. 29, 2021.According to NOAA's Best Track database dating to 1842, Ida was only the fifth Category 4 hurricane to landfall in Louisiana.
Sounds rare, right? Five times in almost 180 years.
However, the last time it happened was almost exactly one year ago.
On Aug. 27, 2020, Hurricane Laura pummeled southwest Louisiana with 150 mph winds as it surged ashore in Cameron Parish.
So this is the first time on record Louisiana had Cat. 4 hurricane landfalls in back-to-back hurricane seasons.
Prior to 2020, it had been a while. Betsy in 1965 was the state's last Cat. 4 landfall prior to Laura. Its storm surge flooded much of New Orleans with up to 9 feet of water, along with wind gusts up to 125 mph.
Category 4 hurricanes to landfall in Louisiana since 1842 include Ida and Laura in Aug. 2020.The Pelican State's only other Cat. 4 landfalls were in the 19th century.
Prior to Katrina, the early October 1893 Cheniere Caminanda hurricane was the state's deadliest, claiming an estimated 1,100 to 1,400 lives.
And in 1856, a Cat. 4 hurricane wiped out a resort hotel on Last Island, west of Port Fourchon and Grand Isle. The National Hurricane Center said 400 were killed, and the island was split in half.
While Cat. 5 Hurricane Camille in 1969 also hammered southeast Louisiana, its center skirted just east of Louisiana before landfalling in Mississippi.
Katrina in 2005 "weakened" to Cat. 3 before its Louisiana landfall. However, Katrina's giant size and previous stint as a Cat. 5 over the Gulf of Mexico produced a massive storm surge in Mississippi and contributed to levee failures that inundated New Orleans.
The Weather Company’s primary journalistic mission is to report on breaking weather news, the environment and the importance of science to our lives. This story does not necessarily represent the position of our parent company, IBM.
The Weather Company’s primary journalistic mission is to report on breaking weather news, the environment and the importance of science to our lives. This story does not necessarily represent the position of our parent company, IBM.
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