BATON ROUGE, La. (WAFB) - Louisiana Gov. John Bel Edwards gave a dire warning for state residents to take all necessary precautions and prepare for the potentially catastrophic impacts of Hurricane Ida during a news conference around 2 p.m. Saturday, Aug. 28.
Edwards said Hurricane Ida, which is forecast to intensify to a powerful Category 4 storm before making landfall along the state’s southeastern coast Sunday, Aug. 29, will be the strongest storm to hit anywhere in the state since the 1850s.
The governor said intense wind gusts of up to 110 mph could be felt all throughout southeast Louisiana, as far north as the Mississippi state line, and as far west as Lafayette.
He acknowledged Hurricane Ida will be making landfall on the 16th anniversary of Hurricane Katrina.
Flash flooding from Hurricane Ida throughout southeast Louisiana is a real concern, according to the governor.
He said eight to 16 inches of rainfall is expected Sunday through Tuesday, with the potential for higher totals locally.
Edwards also warned residents who were evacuating from coastal areas and New Orleans to go farther north than Baton Rouge and farther west than Lafayette.
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Totally_Not_Anna on August 29th, 2021 at 01:13 UTC »
One year and three days ago, Louisiana also had the strongest storm since the 1850s make landfall. 6 weeks later we had a cat 2 make landfall within 30 miles of the first one. My hometown is still in complete shambles.
These past 2 years have convinced me to move. I can't keep going through this anxiety year after year
philosophyofblonde on August 28th, 2021 at 23:57 UTC »
Hate to be a Debbie Downer here but you’re looking at weeks’ worth of power outages with a 105 heat index and hospital systems across the southern US stressed to the max. They’ve been unable to evacuate hospitals to make room for potential hurricane victims. USACE released a report in 2019 that basically said levees are eroding faster than they thought and could be in danger of failing as early as 2023. There were already levee issues with Isaac in 2012 and that one was a baby compared to Ida. The levee system is not bulletproof. It could get really bad under the right conditions. All the ingredients for a major disaster are right in that crock pot.
The---Batman on August 28th, 2021 at 20:45 UTC »
Get out before it gets bad