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Agence France-Presse

Powerful Hurricane Ida battered the southern US state of Louisiana and plunged New Orleans into darkness 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 had weakened to a Category 1 by Sunday night.
As of 11pm, Ida was packing maximum sustained winds of 135km/h (95mph), and the powerful storm knocked out power for all of New Orleans.
“@EntergyNOLA has confirmed that New Orleans has no power,” tweeted NOLA Ready, the city’s emergency preparedness programme, referring to the area’s electricity provider.
“The only power in the city is coming from generators.”
Nearly a million customers across Louisiana were without power, according to outage tracker PowerOutage. US.
President Joe Biden, who described Ida as “a life-threatening storm”, declared a major disaster for Louisiana, which gives it access to federal aid.

One person was killed by a falling tree in Prairieville, 60 miles northwest of New Orleans, the Ascension Parish Sheriff’s Office said.
Ahead of Ida’s arrival, showers and strong wind swept New Orleans’ deserted streets throughout the morning, buffeting boarded-up windows at businesses and homes surrounded by sandbags.
The National Hurricane Center warned that the storm surge could create a “life-threatening situation” and urged residents in affected areas to “take all necessary actions to protect life and property.”
Louisiana Governor John Bel Edwards said Ida could be the most powerful storm to hit the state since 1850.
“There is no doubt that the coming days and weeks are going to be extremely difficult,” he said at a briefing Sunday, adding that some people might have to shelter in place for up to 72 hours.
“Find the safest place in your house and stay there until the storm passes,” he tweeted earlier.
Storm surges flooded the town of Grand Isle, on a barrier island south of New Orleans, and low-lying highways in the area were covered in water.
Most residents had heeded warnings of catastrophic damage and authorities’ instructions to flee.
Roads leading out of New Orleans had bumper-to-bumper traffic in the days preceding Ida’s arrival.
In one neighbourhood in eastern New Orleans, a few residents were completing preparations just hours before landfall.

“I’m not sure if I’m prepared,” said Charles Fields, who was bringing his garden furniture indoors, “but we just have to ride it.”
“We’ll see how it holds up,” added the 60-year-old, who in 2005 saw Hurricane Katrina flood his house with 3.3 metres (11 feet) of water.
In St. Bernard Parish, a large ferry boat broke free of its moorings and was being blown up the Mississippi River, according to local TV channel WWL, which posted a video of the boat.
– ‘Very serious test’ –
Governor Edwards warned on Sunday that Ida would be “a very serious test for our levee systems,” an extensive network of pumps, gates and earthen and concrete berms that was expanded after Katrina.
He told CNN that hundreds of thousands of residents were believed to have evacuated.
The storm “presents some very challenging difficulties for us, with the hospitals being so full of Covid patients,” he said.
With a low rate of vaccination, Louisiana is among the states hit hardest by the pandemic, severely stressing hospitals.
Hospitalisation, at 2,700 on Saturday, are near their pandemic high.
The memory of Katrina, which made landfall on August 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 had previously said.
Rainfall 25-46cm (10 to 18 inches) is expected in parts of southern Louisiana through Monday, with up to 24 inches in some areas.
The storm is expected to continue weakening as it moves over land, with a predicted track taking it north over the central United States before veering eastward, reaching the mid-Atlantic region by Wednesday.
The White House said Sunday that federal agencies had deployed more than 2,000 emergency workers to the region – including 13 urban search-and-rescue teams – along with food and water supplies and electric generators.
Local authorities, the Red Cross and other organisations have prepared dozens of shelters with room for at least 16,000 people, the White House added.
Plans to cope with the hurricane – and set up shelters – have been complicated by Covid-19.
Biden on Saturday urged anyone in community shelters to wear masks and maintain distance.
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.


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United States

Hurricane Ida pummels Louisiana, knocks out power in New Orleans

A dumpster tossed by gusting winds along Canal Street during Hurricane Ida in New Orleans. Photo; Bloomberg

NEW ORLEANS, LOUISIANA - AUGUST 29: A group of people walk through the French District during Hurricane Ida on August 29, 2021 in New Orleans, Louisiana. Hurricane Ida made landfall earlier today and continues to cut across Louisiana. Hurricane Ida has been classified as a Category 4 storm with winds of 150 mph. Brandon Bell/Getty Images/AFP == FOR NEWSPAPERS, INTERNET, TELCOS & TELEVISION USE ONLY ==

NEW ORLEANS, LOUISIANA - AUGUST 29: Kandaysha Harris wipes her face before continuing traveling through the storm of Hurricane Ida on August 29, 2021 in New Orleans, Louisiana. The hurricane made landfall earlier today and continues to cut across Louisiana. Hurricane Ida has been classified as a Category 4 storm with winds of 150 mph. Brandon Bell/Getty Images/AFP == FOR NEWSPAPERS, INTERNET, TELCOS & TELEVISION USE ONLY ==

Hurricane Ida upgraded to Category 4 as it nears Louisiana, on Katrina anniversary

Dark clouds hang over the Royal Dutch Shell Plc Convent Refinery ahead of Hurricane Ida in Convent Louisiana. Photo: Bloomberg

People sit outside of the partially boarded up The Jimani bar on Chartres Street in the French Quarter of New Orleans, Louisiana on August 28, 2021 before the arrival of Hurricane Ida. - Owners were boarding up their shops and evacuations were underway on August 28, 2021 as Hurricane Ida was on a path to hit New Orleans 16 years to the day the southern US city was devastated by Hurricane Katrina. (Photo by Patrick T. FALLON / AFP)

Heavy traffic clogs Interstate 10 out of New Orleans as residents and visitors evacuate for the expected arrival of Hurricane Ida Saturday, Aug. 28, 2021, in Slidell, La. (AP Photo/Steve Helber)

Harrison County W Wittmann Road in Pass Christian, Miss. floods in the early morning of Sunday, Aug. 29, 2021 as a result of the arrival of Hurricane Ida. (Hunter Dawkins/The Gazebo Gazette via AP)

epa09435262 Utility workers from Wisconsin hangout by a bucket truck as they watch clouds from Hurricane Ida come into New Orleans, Louisiana, USA, 29 August 2021. Hurricane Ida is expected to make landfall on the Louisiana coast Sunday evening as a major hurricane with the Mississippi and Louisiana coastal areas preparing for storms surges, wind damage and flooding. It is also making landfall on the 16 anniversary of Hurricane Katrina. EPA-EFE/DAN ANDERSON

NEW ORLEANS, LOUISIANA - AUGUST 28: People stand in line to get through the TSA security checkpoint at Louis Armstrong New Orleans International Airport on August 28, 2021 in New Orleans, Louisiana. Residents were evacuating the area as Hurricane Ida worked its way toward the Louisiana coastline with an expected landfall on Sunday afternoon . Scott Olson/Getty Images/AFP == FOR NEWSPAPERS, INTERNET, TELCOS & TELEVISION USE ONLY ==

Hurricane Ida barrels down on Louisiana after slamming Cuba

A man walks under the rain in Batabano, Cuba’s Mayabeque province. Photo: AFP

Storm clouds pass overhead as St. Bernard Parish road crews shore up levees and vulnerable roadways with gravel as the Louisiana coast prepares for the arrival of Hurricane Ida on Friday, Aug. 27, 2021 in New Orleans. Hurricane Ida struck Cuba on Friday and threatened to slam into Louisiana with devastating force over the weekend, prompting New Orleans’ mayor to order everyone outside the protection of the city’s levees to evacuate.(Chris Granger/The Times-Picayune/The New Orleans Advocate via AP)

A resident takes home sandbags in New Orleans. Photo: The Times-Picayune/The New Orleans Advocate via AP

Joe Biden pledges aid to help states  recover from Hurricane Ida as storm approaches

US President Joe Biden speaks during a Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) briefing in Washington on Saturday. Photo: Sipa / Bloomberg

Members of the National Guard enter the New Orleans Ernest N. Morial Convention Center which is being set up as a shelter of last resort before the arrival of Hurricane Ida in New Orleans, La., Saturday, Aug. 28, 2021. Residents across Louisiana’s coast rushed to prepare for the approach of an intensifying Hurricane Ida. The storm is expected to bring winds as high as 140 mph when it slams ashore late Sunday. ( Max Becherer/The Times-Picayune/The Advocate via AP)

Boats, trailers and RVs line Louisiana Highway 46 after owners moved them to be inside the levee protection zone before Hurricane Ida makes landfall in St. Bernard Parish, La., Saturday, Aug. 28, 2021. St. Bernard Parish is part of the greater New Orleans metropolitan area.(AP Photo/Matthew Hinton)

Tropical Storm Henri makes landfall in Rhode Island as high winds knock out power

A resident of Westerly, Rhode Island takes photos of the waves as Tropical Storm Henri approaches on Sunday. Photo: AP

Waves crash on rocks during Tropical Storm Henri in Montauk, New York, U.S., August 22, 2021. REUTERS/Caitlin Ochs

epa09424978 Waves crash around the Dockmaster's building at the Watch Hill Yacht Club as Tropical Storm Henri arrives over Watch Hill in Westerly, Rhode Island, USA, 22 August 2021. Tropical Storm Henri is expected to make landfall near the Connecticut and Rhode Island boarders later in the day. EPA-EFE/CJ GUNTHER

Governor Andrew Cuomo speaks during a Zoom-cast news briefing, Saturday Aug. 21, 2021, in New York. Cuomo declared a state of emergency for parts of the state and urged people to heed warnings, as the newly upgraded Hurricane Henri closed in on the Northeast. (NY Governor's Press Office via AP)

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World

United States & Canada


Electricity out for all of New Orleans as tower collapses
Storm downgraded to Category 1, Biden declares it ‘life-threatening’



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


Extreme weather

Joe Biden

Hurricane Ida pummels Louisiana, knocks out power in New Orleans

.css-1mniedq{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;} Electricity out for all of New Orleans as tower collapses Storm downgraded to Category 1, Biden declares it ‘life-threatening’

Electricity out for all of New Orleans as tower collapses

Storm downgraded to Category 1, Biden declares it ‘life-threatening’