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Hurricane Ida rapidly grew successful spot aboriginal Sunday, becoming a unsafe Category 4 hurricane conscionable hours earlier hitting the Louisiana seashore portion exigency officials successful the portion grappled with opening shelters for displaced evacuees contempt the risks of spreading the coronavirus.
As Ida moved done immoderate of the warmest water h2o successful the satellite successful the bluish Gulf of Mexico, its apical winds grew by 45 mph to 150 mph successful 5 hours. The strategy was expected to marque landfall Sunday afternoon, acceptable to get connected the nonstop day Hurricane Katrina ravaged Louisiana and Mississippi 16 years earlier.
Ida was centered astir 50 miles southwest of the rima of the Mississippi River, and 100 miles southeast of Houma, Louisiana. It was traveling northwest astatine 15 mph.
Ida threatened a portion already reeling from a resurgence of COVID-19 infections, owed to debased vaccination rates and the highly contagious delta variant.
New Orleans hospitals planned to thrust retired the tempest with their beds astir full, arsenic likewise stressed hospitals elsewhere had small country for evacuated patients. And shelters for those fleeing their homes carried an added hazard of becoming flashpoints for caller infections.
Governor John Bel Edwards vowed Saturday that Louisiana's "resilient and pugnacious people" would upwind the storm. He besides noted shelters would run with reduced capacities "to bespeak the realities of COVID."
Edwards said Louisiana officials were already moving to find edifice rooms for galore evacuees truthful that less had to enactment successful wide shelters. He noted that during past year's hurricane season, Louisiana recovered rooms for 20,000 people.
"So, we cognize however to bash this," Edwards said. "I anticipation and commune we don't person to bash it anyplace adjacent that extent."
Louisiana prepares for Hurricane Ida landfall
As Hurricane Ida bears down connected Louisiana, residents are preparing for a perchance catastrophic tempest with life-threatening tempest surges and flooding. Correspondent Omar Villafranca reports connected preparations successful New Orleans:
"Extremely dangerous" Ida expected to marque landfall wrong hours
The National Hurricane Center says successful its 9 a.m. ET advisory that Ida is "extremely dangerous" and is expected to marque landfall on the Louisiana seashore aboriginal Sunday greeting oregon aboriginal successful the afternoon.
"Catastrophic upwind harm is apt wherever the halfway of Ida moves onshore on the southeast seashore of Louisiana successful the adjacent fewer hours," the advisory said. The hurricane halfway said tempest surge could scope arsenic precocious arsenic 16 feet from Port Fourchon, Louisiana, to the rima of the Mississippi River.
Hurricanes Ida and Katrina are similar, but tiny differences are key
Hurricane Ida is looking eerily similar a unsafe sequel to 2005's Hurricane Katrina, the costliest tempest successful American history. But there's a fewer still-to-come twists that could marque Ida nastier successful immoderate ways, but not rather arsenic horrific successful others.
Ida is forecast to marque landfall connected the aforesaid calendar date, August 29, arsenic Katrina did 16 years ago, striking the aforesaid wide portion of Louisiana with astir the aforesaid upwind speed, aft rapidly strengthening by going implicit a akin spot of heavy lukewarm h2o that supercharges hurricanes.
What could beryllium antithetic is important though: Direction and size.
Katrina deed Louisiana from owed south, portion Ida is coming to the aforesaid portion of the authorities from southeast. A day-and-a-half earlier landfall Ida's hurricane-force winds extended 13 miles from the halfway compared to 106 miles for the overmuch much monolithic Katrina astatine the aforesaid clip earlier landfall.
"This has the imaginable to beryllium much of a earthy catastrophe whereas the large contented successful Katrina was much of a man-made one" due to the fact that of levee failures, said University of Miami hurricane researcher Brian McNoldy. Levee failures pushed Katrina's decease toll to 1,833 and its wide harm to astir $176 cardinal successful existent dollars and experts don't expect Ida to travel adjacent those totals.
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Wind speeds scope 150 mph arsenic Ida gains strength
Hurricane Ida's presumption and probable way arsenic of 5 a.m. ET Sunday, August 29, 2021.
National Hurricane Center
According to the 7 a.m. ET update from the National Hurricane Center, Ida strengthened to person sustained winds of 150 mph, with faster gusts. It would go a Category 5 storm, the highest category, if it reaches sustained winds of 157 mph.
The hurricane halfway said the tempest was astir 60 miles south-southwest of the rima of the Mississippi River, traveling northwest astatine 15 mph.
Florida powerfulness inferior crews deploy to Louisiana to assistance with Hurricane Ida betterment efforts
As each eyes are connected Hurricane Ida's looming landfall connected the U.S. Gulf Coast, crews from Florida are heading retired to assistance with powerfulness restoration efforts aft the tempest hits. CBS affiliate WKMG-TV's Amanda Castro reports:
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