Hurricane Ida hit the US state of Louisiana

 

Hurricane Ida hit the US state of Louisiana after Mexico, submerging several feet of Louisiana's coast.

Utility company Intergee Louisiana reported that all eight transmission lines across the New Orleans metropolitan area were cut off Sunday night after a failure, according to Reuters.

According to the Jefferson Parish Emergency Management Department, a transmission tower fell into the Mississippi River.

US President Joe Biden has announced a major disaster in Louisiana and ordered federal aid to step up rehabilitation efforts in the affected areas.

Ida crashed off the coast near Port Fortune Louisiana around noon, the epicenter of the offshore energy industry.

The effects of the storm's strong winds were seen up to 50 miles away.

The sheriff's office in Ascension Parish reported the first U.S. death from the storm Sunday night, saying a 60-year-old man had died when a tree fell on his home near the state capital, Baton Rouge.

The National Hurricane Center in southeastern Louisiana also issued a flood warning, almost all oil production in the area was suspended and major ports along the coasts of Louisiana and Mississippi were closed for shipping. 

Residents of the coastal areas were ordered to evacuate several days ago.

"I was shocked when I found out it was the most devastating Hurricane Katrina of all time," said Janet Rocker, a New Orleans resident.

The storm forced the suspension of emergency medical services in New Orleans and other states that were already suffering from a fourth wave of code 19 infections.

Power outages were widespread in the first hours of the storm, with more than 1 million homes and businesses without power by Sunday night, according to the US Power Outage Monitoring website.

Born in the Caribbean Sea, Ida became a Category 4 hurricane and hit the coast with strong winds of 150 mph.

According to the NHC, as Ida hit the ground in the next 10 hours, its wind speed dropped to 105 miles per hour, making the category a hurricane.

On Sunday, rain on the way to New Orleans uprooted palm trees where 68-year-old Robert Roffen had taken refuge in a hotel with his family.

"I think we'll be safe here, this time because of Corona's double trouble," 

The NHC also warned of potentially catastrophic wind damage and up to 610 mm of rain in some areas.