Hurricane Ida - live Thousands flee as extremely dangerous category 4 storm makes landfall in Louisiana

Related video: ‘Be prepared’ for ‘very dangerous’ storm, warns Biden

Hurricane Ida is expected to make landfall in the United States on Sunday as an “extremely dangerous” Category 4 storm that could bring a life-threatening storm surge, potentially catastrophic wind damage and flooding rainfall, officials have warned.

The weather system threatens to plunge much of the Louisiana shoreline under water, having intensified faster than experts had predicted on Saturday. Residents of the Gulf Coast have been evacuating their homes and businesses have been shut down.

Early on Sunday Ida was a Category 4 hurricane on the five-step Saffir-Simpson scale, the National Hurricane Center said. At 4 am CDT (9 am GMT) it was located about 75 miles south of the mouth of the Mississippi River, with top sustained winds of 140 mph.

Louisiana Governor John Bel Edwards said on Saturday that the storm could be the state’s worst direct hit by a hurricane since the 1850s.

Show latest update 1630265415More than 300,000 people in Louisiana are now without power

The number of people without electricity in Louisiana has skyrocketed up to 301,965, according to poweroutage.us.

Only about an hour ago, that number was at approximately 105,000.

Nathan Place29 August 2021 20:301630264515Horrifying video shows man wading out into storm surge

The National Weather Service has retweeted a video of a man deliberately walking into a storm surge, and emphatically warned others not to do the same.

“Absolutely DO NOT go into Storm Surge,” NWS New Orleans tweeted. “This is an extremely dangerous and LIFE-THREATENING situation and this man is putting his life in imminent danger. Stay inside, hunker down in an interior room or closet or bathroom and STAY PUT!”

Nathan Place29 August 2021 20:151630263247Video shows tree being blown onto house by Ida’s winds

Video shows the moment winds from Hurricane Ida blew a tree onto a neighboring house in Harvey, Louisiana.

Nathan Place29 August 2021 19:541630262365New Orleans EMS suspends operations ‘due to dangerous winds'

New Orleans Emergency Medical Services has suspended operations due to unsafe weather conditions, it announced on Twitter.

“NOEMS operations have been suspended due to dangerous winds,” the agency said. “We will address calls accordingly once it is safe for our first responders.”

Nathan Place29 August 2021 19:391630262018Ida ties with 2020 hurricane for Louisiana’s strongest storm ever

As a Category 4 hurricane with 150mph winds, Ida has tied for the record of Louisiana’s strongest storm in history, CNN has reported.

Ida’s fearsome strength matches that of two other storms: the Last Island Hurricane of 1856, and Hurricane Laura of 2020.

That makes Louisiana the first state in history to face hurricanes with winds of over 150mph in two consecutive years.

A man takes pictures of high waves along the shore of Lake Pontchartrain as Hurricane Ida nears, Sunday, Aug. 29, 2021, in New Orleans. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert)

(Copyright 2021 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.)Nathan Place29 August 2021 19:331630261419Torrential rain pummels Leeville, LA, just north of where Ida made landfall

Video footage shows the nightmarish view in Leeville, Louisiana, as it gets pummeled with torrential rain and powerful winds. Leeville is just north of Port Fourchon, where Hurricane Ida made landfall.

Nathan Place29 August 2021 19:231630260148Power outages have affected over 150,000 Louisianans

Over 150,000 people in Louisiana have now lost their electricity due to Hurricane Ida, according to poweroutage.us.

One energy provider, Entergy, says some customers will have to wait weeks for their power to be restored.

“Every storm is unique,” Entergy said on its website. “Based on historical restoration times, customers in the direct path of a Category 4 hurricane can experience outages up to three weeks and beyond three weeks for a Category 5 hurricane.”

PowerOutage.US

PowerOutage.US is an ongoing project created to track, record, and aggregate power outages across the united states.

Nathan Place29 August 2021 19:021630257066Hurricane Ida has made landfall, hitting Louisiana with 150mph winds

Hurricane Ida has officially made landfall, reaching the southeastern coast of Louisiana near Port Fourchon at 11:55am.

The storm brought winds blowing at 150 miles per hour, according to the National Weather Service Hurricane Center.

“Ida made landfall as an extremely dangerous category 4 hurricane near Port Fourchon, Louisiana, with maximum sustained winds of 150 mph and a minimum central pressure of 930 mb (27.46 inches),” the Center said in a tweet.

Nathan Place29 August 2021 18:111630256115Power outages have left almost 93,000 people without electricity in Louisiana

As Hurricane Ida bears down on Louisiana, 92,609 people in the state have lost their electricity, according to poweroutage.us.

PowerOutage.US

PowerOutage.US is an ongoing project created to track, record, and aggregate power outages across the united states.

Nathan Place29 August 2021 17:551630255420Video shows the view inside Hurricane Ida

Video from a NOAA aircraft shows the view inside the hurricane currently barreling toward Louisiana.

Nathan Place29 August 2021 17:43

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