Hurricane Ida pummels Louisiana, knocks out power in New Orleans

NEW ORLEANS, Louisiana－Hurricane Ida battered the southern US state of Louisiana and plunged New Orleans city into darkness on Sunday, leaving at least one person dead 16 years to the day after Hurricane Katrina devastated the city.

Ida slammed into the Louisiana coast as a Category 4 storm, but downgraded on Monday to a tropical storm, 16 hours after striking in Louisiana as a Category 4 hurricane, forecasters say.

The storm knocked out power for all of New Orleans, leaving more than 1 million people across Louisiana without power, according to online tracker PowerOutage. US.

The loss of power was due to catastrophic transmission damage from the powerful Category 4 hurricane, said power company Entergy.

President Joe Biden described Ida as a life-threatening storm and declared it a major disaster for Louisiana, which allows the state access to federal aid.

One person was killed by a falling tree in Prairieville, about 100 kilometers northwest of New Orleans, the Ascension Parish Sheriff's Office said.

The National Weather Service issued warnings of storm surges and flash floods for several areas, including the town of Jean Lafitte just south of New Orleans, where Mayor Tim Kerner said the levees had been breached by rapidly rising waters.

The storm, though greatly diminished as it churned inland toward western Mississippi early on Monday, was expected to continue unleashing heavy downpours "likely to result in life-threatening" flooding, said the National Hurricane Center.

Throughout the morning, showers and strong wind swept the city's deserted streets, buffeting boarded-up windows at businesses and homes surrounded by sandbags.

Louisiana Governor John Bel Edwards said Ida could be the most powerful storm to hit the state since 1850.

Storm surges flooded Grand Isle town and low-lying highways in the area were covered in water.

Catastrophic damage

Most residents heeded warnings of catastrophic damage and the authorities' instructions to flee.

Roads leading out of New Orleans had bumper-to-bumper traffic in the days preceding Ida's arrival.

With a low vaccination rate, Louisiana is among the states hit hardest by the pandemic, severely stressing hospitals. As of Saturday, hospitalizations at 2,700 were near their pandemic high. Plans to cope with the hurricane and set up shelters have been complicated by COVID-19.

The day also marked the 16th anniversary of Hurricane Katrina's destructive landfalls in Louisiana and Mississippi. The memory of Katrina on Aug 29, 2005, is still fresh in Louisiana, where it caused some 1,800 deaths and billions of dollars in damage.

"It's very painful to think about another powerful storm like Hurricane Ida making landfall on that anniversary," Edwards said.

Rainfall of 25 to 46 centimeters was expected in parts of southern Louisiana through Monday, with rainfall up to 60 cm expected in some areas.

The storm was expected to continue weakening as it moves over land, with a predicted track taking it north over central United States before veering eastward, reaching the mid-Atlantic region by Wednesday.

Scientists have warned of a rise in cyclone activity as the ocean surface warms due to climate change, posing an increasing threat to the world's coastal communities.

Agencies - Xinhua