Tropical Cyclone Ida major threat for Gulf Coast

Page 1 of 2 [ 18 posts ]  Go to page 1, 2  Next

ASPartOfMe
Veteran
Veteran

User avatar

Joined: 25 Aug 2013
Age: 66
Gender: Male
Posts: 34,397
Location: Long Island, New York

27 Aug 2021, 8:33 am

Ida is strengthening as Louisiana braces for a hurricane hit on Sunday - Bryan Norcross hurricane expert

Quote:
Once again, Louisiana is the bullseye. Tropical Storm Ida is likely to become a strong hurricane as it makes a beeline for the Gulf coast south or southwest of New Orleans. While Mississippi and the rest of the Louisiana coast are in the threat zone, the steering pattern is very well established so the odds of this storm directly impacting the Greater New Orleans and Baton Rouge areas are pretty high.

Ida will track over the western end of Cuba tonight. It will be moving right along, so the interaction with the land is not expected to knock it down much.

When Ida gets into the central Gulf on Saturday, it will have lots of fuel to work with. Very warm water flows north between Mexico and Cuba. Most of it hangs a right and flows south of the Keys and then up the Florida southeast coast as the Gulf Stream. But some of it breaks off and creates a deep pool of warm water in the Gulf called the loop current. Unfortunately, Ida is forecast to pass directly over this hot patch with the highest-octane hurricane fuel anywhere in the Gulf.

The upper-level winds are forecast to be conducive for steady, perhaps rapid, strengthening. The unknown is whether the structure of the storm will come together to take advantage of the conditions over the Gulf, and how soon.

The National Hurricane Center is forecasting Category 3 strength at landfall, so people really should plan for a Cat 4. It’s a daunting situation.

If Ida takes a track something like the National Hurricane Center is forecasting, it will mean big problems for southeast Louisiana and be scary for metro New Orleans. It's a complex area – much of it below sea level – with multiple levees and flood-protection structures defending towns and cities.

The immediate New Orleans area is surrounded by a massive flood wall and levee system. It is not designed to stop the storm surge from every hurricane. But it will not fail, like the flood walls did in Hurricane Katrina. If the surge level were to overtop the system, the water would stop flowing as soon as the water level outside the barriers dropped. In Katrina it toppled the flood walls, so the water kept coming.

The New Orleans system is advertised be tall enough to fully defend against a “fast-moving Category 3” hurricane. This would appear to fit that description, and the storm might track far enough west to avoid fully taxing the flood defenses. But it’s a close call.

Outside the “Greater New Orleans Hurricane and Storm Damage Risk Reduction System” – the official name of the post-Katrina levees, flood walls, and gates – there are other communities protected by less robust levees. It’s a very complex patchwork or waterways, barriers, and residential and commercial areas. It is going to be a daunting challenge for officials there to keep people safe by being sure they are riding out the storm on high ground.

The National Hurricane Center is forecasting 7 to 11 feet of water above normal high tide in the most vulnerable areas. Significant storm surge is possible all the way east to the Alabama/Florida line.

This is a very dangerous situation. Since we can’t precisely forecast the intensity, and the intensity is a big component of the storm surge, preparations have to be made for a stronger storm than the explicit forecast.


_________________
Professionally Identified and joined WP August 26, 2013
DSM 5: Autism Spectrum Disorder, DSM IV: Aspergers Moderate Severity

It is Autism Acceptance Month

“My autism is not a superpower. It also isn’t some kind of god-forsaken, endless fountain of suffering inflicted on my family. It’s just part of who I am as a person”. - Sara Luterman


VegetableMan
Veteran
Veteran

Joined: 11 Jun 2014
Gender: Male
Posts: 5,208
Location: Illinois

27 Aug 2021, 1:18 pm

They're calling for the evacuation of New Orleans, I just read. It might become a Category 3. Let's hope the improvements to the levee system implemented following the Katrina disaster will be effective.


_________________
What do you call a hot dog in a gangster suit?

Oscar Meyer Lansky


ASPartOfMe
Veteran
Veteran

User avatar

Joined: 25 Aug 2013
Age: 66
Gender: Male
Posts: 34,397
Location: Long Island, New York

27 Aug 2021, 5:06 pm

National Hurricane Center

Quote:
Key Messages:
1. Life-threatening storm surge and hurricane conditions are
expected to continue through tonight in portions of western Cuba,
including the Isle of Youth, where a Hurricane Warning is in effect.
Life-threatening heavy rains, flash flooding and mudslides are
expected across Jamaica, the Cayman Islands, and western Cuba,
including the Isle of Youth.

2. There is a danger of life-threatening storm surge inundation
Sunday along the coasts of Louisiana and Mississippi within the
Storm Surge Warning area. Extremely life-threatening inundation of
10 to 15 feet above ground level is possible within the area from
Morgan City, Louisiana, to the Mouth of the Mississippi River.
Interests throughout the warning area should follow any advice given
by local officials.

3. Ida is expected to be an extremely dangerous major hurricane when
it reaches the coast of Louisiana. Hurricane-force winds are
expected Sunday in portions of the Hurricane Warning area along the
Louisiana coast, including metropolitan New Orleans, with
potentially catastrophic wind damage possible where the core of Ida
moves onshore. Actions to protect life and property should be rushed
to completion in the warning area.

4. Ida is likely to produce heavy rainfall later Sunday into Monday
across the central Gulf Coast from southeast Louisiana to coastal
Mississippi and Alabama, resulting in considerable flash, urban,
small stream, and riverine flooding impacts. As Ida moves inland,
flooding impacts are possible across portions of the Lower
Mississippi and Tennessee Valleys.


_________________
Professionally Identified and joined WP August 26, 2013
DSM 5: Autism Spectrum Disorder, DSM IV: Aspergers Moderate Severity

It is Autism Acceptance Month

“My autism is not a superpower. It also isn’t some kind of god-forsaken, endless fountain of suffering inflicted on my family. It’s just part of who I am as a person”. - Sara Luterman


Tim_Tex
Veteran
Veteran

User avatar

Joined: 2 Jul 2004
Age: 44
Gender: Male
Posts: 45,516
Location: Houston, Texas

27 Aug 2021, 7:29 pm

VegetableMan wrote:
They're calling for the evacuation of New Orleans, I just read. It might become a Category 3. Let's hope the improvements to the levee system implemented following the Katrina disaster will be effective.


Some say it could even be a category 4.


_________________
Who’s better at math than a robot? They’re made of math!

Now proficient in ChatGPT!


ASPartOfMe
Veteran
Veteran

User avatar

Joined: 25 Aug 2013
Age: 66
Gender: Male
Posts: 34,397
Location: Long Island, New York

28 Aug 2021, 4:58 am

National Hurricane Center

Quote:
Key Messages:

1. Hurricane and tropical storm conditions are ending over Cuba.
However, Ida will continue to bring periods of heavy rain across
western Cuba through today that may lead to flash flooding and
mudslides.

2. There is a danger of life-threatening storm surge inundation
Sunday along the coasts of Louisiana and Mississippi within the
Storm Surge Warning area. Extremely life-threatening inundation of
10 to 15 feet above ground level is possible within the area from
Morgan City, Louisiana, to the Mouth of the Mississippi River.
Interests throughout the warning area should follow any advice given
by local officials.

3. Ida is expected to be an extremely dangerous major hurricane when
it reaches the coast of Louisiana. Hurricane-force winds are
expected Sunday in portions of the Hurricane Warning area along the
Louisiana coast, including metropolitan New Orleans, with
potentially catastrophic wind damage possible where the core of Ida
moves onshore. Actions to protect life and property should be rushed
to completion in the warning area.

4. Ida is likely to produce heavy rainfall later Sunday into Monday
across the central Gulf Coast from southeast Louisiana to coastal
Mississippi resulting in significant flash and riverine flooding
impacts. As Ida moves inland, flooding impacts are possible across
portions of the Lower Mississippi and Tennessee Valleys.


Louisiana braces for ‘life-altering’ Hurricane Ida
Quote:
Residents across Louisiana’s coast Saturday were taking one last day to prepare for what is being described as a “life-altering” Hurricane Ida which is expected to bring winds as high as 140 mph (225 kph) when it slams ashore.

A combination of voluntary and mandatory evacuations have been called for cities and communities across the region including New Orleans, where the mayor ordered a mandatory evacuation for areas outside the city’s levee system and a voluntary evacuation for residents inside the levee system. But since the storm quickly escalated in intensity, Mayor LaToya Cantrell said it wasn’t possible to order a mandatory evacuation for the entire city, which would require using all lanes of some highways to leave the city.

The storm is expected to make landfall on the exact date Hurricane Katrina devastated a large swath of the Gulf Coast 16 years earlier. But whereas Katrina was a Category 3 when it made landfall southwest of New Orleans, Ida is expected to reach an extremely dangerous Category 4 hurricane, with top winds of 140 mph (225 kph) before making landfall likely west of New Orleans late Sun

This will be a life-altering storm for those who aren’t prepared,” National Weather Service meteorologist Benjamin Schott said during a Friday news conference with Louisiana Gov. John Bel Edwards.

In New Orleans, city officials said residents need to be prepared for prolonged power outages, and asked elderly residents to consider evacuating. Collin Arnold, the city’s emergency management director, said the city could be under high winds for about ten hours. Earlier Friday, Cantrell called for a mandatory evacuation for residents outside the city’s levee protections — a relatively small sliver of the city’s population.

With the storm’s forward speed slowing down and the intensity picking up, the storm surge may overtop some levees that protect parts of New Orleans on the west bank of the Mississippi River, said Heath Jones, emergency manager, of the Army Corps of Engineers’ New Orleans District. However he said they’re designed to be overtopped and have protections in place to prevent more damage. There does not appear to be any danger of storm surge coming over the levees that protect the city’s east bank, which makes up most of the city, he said.

At the same time hospitals are preparing for the storm, they are still dealing with a fourth surge of the coronavirus. Officials decided against evacuating New Orleans hospitals. There’s little room for their patients elsewhere, with hospitals from Texas to Florida already packed with patients, said Dr. Jennifer Avengo, the city’s health director.

At the state’s largest hospital system, Ochsner Health System, officials ordered 10 days worth of fuel, food, drugs and other supplies and have backup fuel contracts for its generators. One positive was that the number of COVID-19 patients had dropped from 988 to 836 over the past week — a 15% decline.

President Joe Biden approved a federal emergency declaration for Louisiana ahead of the storm. White House press secretary Jen Psaki said FEMA plans to send nearly 150 medical personnel and almost 50 ambulances to the Gulf Coast to assist strained hospitals.

Image


_________________
Professionally Identified and joined WP August 26, 2013
DSM 5: Autism Spectrum Disorder, DSM IV: Aspergers Moderate Severity

It is Autism Acceptance Month

“My autism is not a superpower. It also isn’t some kind of god-forsaken, endless fountain of suffering inflicted on my family. It’s just part of who I am as a person”. - Sara Luterman


ASPartOfMe
Veteran
Veteran

User avatar

Joined: 25 Aug 2013
Age: 66
Gender: Male
Posts: 34,397
Location: Long Island, New York

29 Aug 2021, 4:38 am

National Hurricane Center says:
DANGEROUS CATEGORY 4 HURRICANE IDA STRENGTHENS SOME MORE...
...LIFE-THREATENING STORM SURGE, POTENTIALLY CATASTROPHIC WIND
DAMAGE, AND FLOODING RAINFALL WILL IMPACT PORTIONS OF THE NORTHERN
GULF COAST BEGINNING LATER THIS MORNING...


SUMMARY OF 400 AM CDT...0900 UTC...INFORMATION
----------------------------------------------
LOCATION...28.0N 89.1W
ABOUT 75 MI...120 KM S OF THE MOUTH OF THE MISSISSIPPI RIVER
ABOUT 145 MI...235 KM SE OF HOUMA LOUISIANA
MAXIMUM SUSTAINED WINDS...140 MPH...220 KM/H
PRESENT MOVEMENT...NW OR 315 DEGREES AT 15 MPH...24 KM/H
MINIMUM CENTRAL PRESSURE...946 MB...27.94 INCHES

Key Messages:

1. There is a danger of life-threatening storm surge inundation
Sunday along the coasts of Louisiana, Mississippi, and Alabama
within the Storm Surge Warning area. Extremely life-threatening
inundation of 9 feet or greater above ground level is possible
somewhere within the area from Morgan City, Louisiana, to the coast
of Mississippi. Overtopping of local levees outside of the Hurricane
and Storm Damage Risk Reduction System is possible where local
inundation values may be higher. Interests throughout the warning
area should follow any advice given by local officials.

2. Ida is expected to be an extremely dangerous major hurricane when
it reaches the coast of southeastern Louisiana. Hurricane-force
winds are expected Sunday in portions of the Hurricane Warning area
along the Louisiana coast, including metropolitan New Orleans, with
potentially catastrophic wind damage possible where the core of Ida
moves onshore. Actions to protect life and property should be rushed
to completion in the warning area.

3. Damaging winds, especially in gusts, will spread inland near the
track of the center of Ida across portions of southeastern Louisiana
and southwestern Mississippi Sunday night and early Monday. These
winds will likely lead to widespread tree damage and power outages.

4. Ida will produce heavy rainfall today through Monday across the
central Gulf Coast from southeastern Louisiana, coastal Mississippi,
to far southwestern Alabama resulting in considerable to
life-threatening flash and urban flooding and significant riverine
flooding impacts. As Ida moves inland, significant flooding impacts
are possible across portions of the Lower Mississippi, Tennessee,
and Ohio Valleys through Wednesday.

Image


_________________
Professionally Identified and joined WP August 26, 2013
DSM 5: Autism Spectrum Disorder, DSM IV: Aspergers Moderate Severity

It is Autism Acceptance Month

“My autism is not a superpower. It also isn’t some kind of god-forsaken, endless fountain of suffering inflicted on my family. It’s just part of who I am as a person”. - Sara Luterman


kraftiekortie
Veteran
Veteran

Joined: 4 Feb 2014
Gender: Male
Posts: 87,510
Location: Queens, NYC

29 Aug 2021, 6:55 am

I pray for the people of the region.

We in the NYC region got lucky with Hurricane Henri. Let’s hope the same happens to the folks of the Gulf Coast region.



Tim_Tex
Veteran
Veteran

User avatar

Joined: 2 Jul 2004
Age: 44
Gender: Male
Posts: 45,516
Location: Houston, Texas

29 Aug 2021, 11:45 am

https://www.cnn.com/us/live-news/hurricane-ida-updates-08-29-21/

Ida made landfall less than an hour ago, on the 16th anniversary of Katrina, just 5 mph short of Category 5 status.

Tropical storm warnings extend into (landlocked) Arkansas.


_________________
Who’s better at math than a robot? They’re made of math!

Now proficient in ChatGPT!


Kitsuna
Hummingbird
Hummingbird

User avatar

Joined: 16 Apr 2021
Gender: Female
Posts: 19

29 Aug 2021, 8:29 pm

New Orleans has literally no power at all and apparently a roof has been torn off a French Quarter building. This is awful.



ASPartOfMe
Veteran
Veteran

User avatar

Joined: 25 Aug 2013
Age: 66
Gender: Male
Posts: 34,397
Location: Long Island, New York

30 Aug 2021, 2:59 am

Kitsuna wrote:
New Orleans has literally no power at all and apparently a roof has been torn off a French Quarter building. This is awful.

New Orleans lost power in Hurricane Ida after tower collapsed in river; fix could take days, longer
Quote:
A massive failure of the transmission system that brings electricity to New Orleans and the east bank of Jefferson Parish left the city completely without power as Hurricane Ida slammed the area and it's not clear how long the problems will take to fix.

The problems during the storm took all eight electricity-transmission lines into the area offline, including one massive tower on the west bank that collapsed into the Mississippi River. Now, the New Orleans area could spend an extended period, perhaps days but potentially much longer, without electricity in the summer heat and during a hurricane season that will continue after Ida has departed.

Failures of the transmission system during Hurricane Gustav in 2008 and Hurricane Laura last year left huge swaths of the state without power for days or weeks.

Mayor LaToya Cantrell urged residents to stay in their homes and New Orleans Police Department Superintendent Shaun Ferguson said "anti-looting" officers would be deployed due to the outage.

The full details of what went wrong with the transmission system were not yet known and Ida's strong winds kept crews from fully evaluating the system on Sunday.

But the most dramatic failure came when an Entergy transmission tower at the Nine Mile Point power plant near Avondale collapsed into the Mississippi River while being pummeled by Ida's winds.

Joe Valienti, director of emergency management with Jefferson Parish, said recovering the tower and the power lines from the water will likely be a considerable undertaking.

“There will have to be a major salvage operation,” he said.

Valienti said the lines were connected to the Avondale substation, and are likely a crucial link in the area's power supply.

He said the weather was so bad Sunday evening after the collapse that parish fire crews couldn't survey the damage.

That wasn't the only problem, however. The seven other lines into the city all failed as well, said New Orleans City Councilmember Helena Moreno, who chairs the committee that regulates Entergy.

"The power restoration will likely be in stages; I have no idea about a timeline nor would I want to speculate," Moreno said. "I would not expect a flipped switch kind of outcome where everyone is back up in a couple of days."




_________________
Professionally Identified and joined WP August 26, 2013
DSM 5: Autism Spectrum Disorder, DSM IV: Aspergers Moderate Severity

It is Autism Acceptance Month

“My autism is not a superpower. It also isn’t some kind of god-forsaken, endless fountain of suffering inflicted on my family. It’s just part of who I am as a person”. - Sara Luterman


ASPartOfMe
Veteran
Veteran

User avatar

Joined: 25 Aug 2013
Age: 66
Gender: Male
Posts: 34,397
Location: Long Island, New York

30 Aug 2021, 8:17 am

NBC News Live Updates

Quote:
Ida caused widespread damage, more than federal officials anticipated it would, and it will take a significant amount of time to recover from the hurricane, according to the head of the Federal Emergency Management Agency.

"Not only was this a Category 4 storm, but it stayed a Category 4 storm for hours over southern parts of Louisiana," FEMA administrator Deanne Criswell told MSNBC's "Morning Joe" on Monday, a day after Ida, now a tropical storm, slammed into the state

She said her teams on the ground were reporting structural damage and possibly building collapses in various areas.

"Having those high winds for several hours, that storm surge for several hours, as well as the intense rainfall, and I think as we get up this morning, we're hearing reports, but we're going to see even more destruction," she added. "This is going to be a really long recovery."

She said, "there have also been some reports of people calling 911 for assistance getting out of their threatened area."

"It's going to be significant, and these are only the initial reports," Criswell said. "We're going to see more as soon as we get the assessment teams out there this morning."




President of Louisiana's Jefferson Parish, which was battered by Hurricane Ida, says rescue teams are out attending to as many as 250 rescue calls.

"They have been really all night anxious to get out when there is first light," Cynthia Lee Sheng told the "TODAY" show.

“I know it's been a very, very long night for those people," she said.



The 911 systems in New Orleans and Jefferson Parish were not working properly Monday morning, officials said.

Orleans Parish Communication District-OPCD announced at about 3 a.m. that 911 was "experiencing technical difficulties." Residents were told to "go to your nearest fire station or approach your nearest officer" in the event of an emergency.

In Jefferson Parish, which was also "currently having difficulties routing calls to 911," residents were told to stay put since 'unnecessary travel is dangerous given the current roadway conditio


_________________
Professionally Identified and joined WP August 26, 2013
DSM 5: Autism Spectrum Disorder, DSM IV: Aspergers Moderate Severity

It is Autism Acceptance Month

“My autism is not a superpower. It also isn’t some kind of god-forsaken, endless fountain of suffering inflicted on my family. It’s just part of who I am as a person”. - Sara Luterman


kraftiekortie
Veteran
Veteran

Joined: 4 Feb 2014
Gender: Male
Posts: 87,510
Location: Queens, NYC

30 Aug 2021, 9:02 am

It is said that the street flooding in New Orleans is not nearly as bad as what happened during Katrina.



ASPartOfMe
Veteran
Veteran

User avatar

Joined: 25 Aug 2013
Age: 66
Gender: Male
Posts: 34,397
Location: Long Island, New York

30 Aug 2021, 10:09 am

kraftiekortie wrote:
It is said that the street flooding in New Orleans is not nearly as bad as what happened during Katrina.

New levees that can be overtopped but not break. Also since unlike Katrina the storm passed west of the city not east meaning no northerly winds pushing water from Lake Pontchartrain into the city(although the southerly winds did push water in from the swamps and Mississippi River.

Levees outside of city and in other areas of Louisiana did fail.

More from NBC live updates:
“ Hurricane Ida made landfall Sunday morning on Port Fourchon, Louisiana, as a powerful Category 4 storm with winds of 150 mph — making it one of the fifth strongest landfalls in U.S. history.

The hurricane's wind gusts were even stronger at 172 mph in Port Fourchon. Other areas were also hit with intense wind gusts. Grand Isle saw gusts of 146 mph while Dulac experienced 138 mph gusts. Galliano was hit with 122 mph gusts and New Orleans with 87 mph.

Ida's strength tied it as the fifth strongest landfall in the country's history. It is also one of the strongest hurricanes to hit Louisiana, behind 2020's Hurricane Laura and the Last Island Hurricane of 1856.

Louisiana also became the first state to endure hurricanes with winds of at least 150 mph in back-to-back years. Hurricane Laura was a Category 4 with wind speeds of 150 mph when it struck the state last year.

After battering Louisiana, Ida moved on toward Mississippi. The National Hurricane Center said Ida, now a tropical storm with sustained winds of 45 mph, is located about 65 miles southwest of Jackson, according to its 8 a.m. Monday update.

The storm is expected to make a faster northeastward motion tonight and into Tuesday. Ida is expected to move over central and northeastern Mississippi Monday afternoon and evening before it moves across the Tennessee Valley on Tuesday. By Wednesday, it will move through the Appalachians, Mid-Atlantic region and the Northeast.

Flash flooding is expected in the coming days, according to forecasters. More than 50 million people are currently under a flash flood watch stretching from the Gulf Coast up to northern New Jersey. “


_________________
Professionally Identified and joined WP August 26, 2013
DSM 5: Autism Spectrum Disorder, DSM IV: Aspergers Moderate Severity

It is Autism Acceptance Month

“My autism is not a superpower. It also isn’t some kind of god-forsaken, endless fountain of suffering inflicted on my family. It’s just part of who I am as a person”. - Sara Luterman


ASPartOfMe
Veteran
Veteran

User avatar

Joined: 25 Aug 2013
Age: 66
Gender: Male
Posts: 34,397
Location: Long Island, New York

30 Aug 2021, 10:58 am

Bryan Norcross Hurricane expert:
“Ida has move out of Louisiana – gusty winds and flooding rain spreading inland

The peak winds in what’s now Tropical Storm Ida have died down dramatically, but they are high enough to bring down trees in the saturated earth. Relentless rain will continue over parts of southeast Louisiana, Mississippi, and across the South as feeder bands rotate up into the circulation. About 6 inches of additional rain is forecast.

The left side of Ida is quite dry with much less wind. the moisture is being pulled up and wrapping around the right side of the center.

Ida will drag that tropical moisture in an arc across Tennessee and into the Northeast and New England over the next few days. Flooding is likely in some areas. There is a long history of dying hurricanes producing catastrophic flooding in mountainous terrain. The big cities of the Northeast might get 2 to 4 inches of rain.

Ida made an unfortunate major wobble to the right yesterday just as it was approaching the New Orleans metropolitan area. That shift put the eye closer to the city, and therefore the winds were higher as the strong bands rotated through.

Even though the winds were only about Category 2 strength, they wreaked havoc on the electrical grid in Louisiana. Clearly they are going to have to look hard at why the failures were so extreme and widespread. The winds also drove water into many neighborhoods outside of the city, which will only slowly recede.

There is damage across the region, but the extent won’t be clear until later today”


_________________
Professionally Identified and joined WP August 26, 2013
DSM 5: Autism Spectrum Disorder, DSM IV: Aspergers Moderate Severity

It is Autism Acceptance Month

“My autism is not a superpower. It also isn’t some kind of god-forsaken, endless fountain of suffering inflicted on my family. It’s just part of who I am as a person”. - Sara Luterman


ASPartOfMe
Veteran
Veteran

User avatar

Joined: 25 Aug 2013
Age: 66
Gender: Male
Posts: 34,397
Location: Long Island, New York

01 Sep 2021, 3:40 pm


After Ida, small recovery signs amid daunting destruction

Quote:
Lights came back on for a fortunate few, some corner stores opened their doors and crews cleared fallen trees and debris from a growing number of roadways Wednesday — small signs of progress amid the monumental task of repairing the damage inflicted by Hurricane Ida.

Roughly a million homes and businesses still had no electricity, and health officials said more than 600,000 lacked running water.

The death toll rose to at least six after a coroner confirmed a 65-year-old woman had drowned in her Louisiana home and police in Maryland said a 19-year-old man was found dead in an apartment complex flooded by heavy rain from Ida’s remnants. And the staggering scope of the disaster began to come into focus, with a private firm estimating total damage from Ida could exceed $50 billion.

Lambert’s house in eastern New Orleans was among more than 11,000 homes and businesses that had power restored early Wednesday, according to the electric company Entergy.

“When it came on it startled me. I’m like ‘All right! We got power,’” Lambert said, his enthusiasm tempered by the knowledge of what others were going through. “I’m fortunate, but they have a lot of people that aren’t as fortunate as me, and I pray for them because it’s rough.”

There were still 989,000 homes and businesses without power, or 44% of all state utility customers in southeast Louisiana, from the New Orleans area to Baton Rouge, according to the state Public Service Commission.

National Guard troops had handed out more than 141,000 meals, 143,000 liters of water and more than 500 tarps in Louisiana as of Wednesday morning, according to Gov. John Bel Edwards’ office. In New Orleans, officials opened seven places where people could get a meal and sit in air conditioning. The city was also using 70 transit buses as cooling sites, Mayor LaToya Cantrell said.

More than 1,200 people were walking through some of Ida’s hardest-hit communities to look for people needing help, according to the Louisiana Fire Marshal’s office.

President Joe Biden was to visit Louisiana Friday to survey the damage, the White House said.

In New Orleans, where the mayor estimated roughly half the population had evacuated, there were growing signs of recovery. Flags hung from dangling power lines to help drivers avoid them, and in one neighborhood, someone decorated the downed lines with strands of tinsel in an echo of Mardi Gras.

City crews removing debris from roads and cutting up fallen trees had some streets almost completely cleared, while others remained cluttered with obstacles.

A few corner stores were open, many taking cash only, though some had working ATM machines.

Louisiana’s transportation department announced that all interstate systems across the state had reopened and been cleared of debris. AT&T, which faced widespread cellphone outages after Ida, said it’s currently operating at more than 90% of normal capacity.


The remnants off Ida combined with a front will cause mischief in the mid-Atlantic and Northeast today and tomorrow. Over 6 inches of rain in some areas, flash flooding, river flooding, and some tornados are forecast. An apparent Tornado hit Annapolis , Maryland


_________________
Professionally Identified and joined WP August 26, 2013
DSM 5: Autism Spectrum Disorder, DSM IV: Aspergers Moderate Severity

It is Autism Acceptance Month

“My autism is not a superpower. It also isn’t some kind of god-forsaken, endless fountain of suffering inflicted on my family. It’s just part of who I am as a person”. - Sara Luterman


ASPartOfMe
Veteran
Veteran

User avatar

Joined: 25 Aug 2013
Age: 66
Gender: Male
Posts: 34,397
Location: Long Island, New York

02 Sep 2021, 3:34 am

Major flooding from Ida shuts down NYC

Quote:
Three days after making landfall in southeastern Louisiana as a Category 4 hurricane, what was left of Ida advanced northward across the Northeast as a tropical rainstorm unloading more than a month’s worth of rain just a few hours into September.

Ida also spun up several damaging twisters in eastern Pennsylvania and New Jersey that left trails of destruction that almost looked similar to portions of the Gulf Coast.

The Wednesday morning commute ground to a halt in some areas of Pittsburgh as tropical downpours caused creeks to jump out of their banks and onto nearby roadways. More than 40 people had to be rescued from a school bus that was trapped in a situation like this, accounting for a handful of all of the water rescues conducted across the Steel City.

Farther east, a flash flood emergency was issued for Johnstown, Pennsylvania, after a nearby dam reached capacity and was overflowing downstream. The dam did not break, but as much as 1 million gallons of water was gushing out of the dam’s spillway, according to The Tribune-Democrat. Thousands of people downstream of the dam were urged to evacuate, while the danger brought back memories of flooding disasters of the past from the Johnstown area.

This was just the first flash flood emergency of the day. Several more were issued in eastern Pennsylvania later in the afternoon and evening as heavy rain created life-threatening situations, including one near Gettysburg and another around Doylestown.

More than a dozen tornado warnings had been issued across northern Virginia, eastern Maryland, southeastern Pennsylvania and New Jersey by late Wednesday evening as rain and thunderstorms on the southern edge of the system started to swirl.

A likely tornado touched down north of Philadelphia near the town of Fort Washington, Pennsylvania, late Wednesday afternoon. Damage has been reported, including roofs blown off of houses. Another tornado was confirmed northwest of Gloucester County, New Jersey, on Wednesday evening which caused major damage to houses and buildings. It is unknown if there were any life-threatening injuries or fatalities with either tornado.

A rare tornado emergency was issued for Trenton, New Jersey, shortly after 7 p.m. EDT Wednesday as a "confirmed large and destructive tornado" was heading toward the city.

At least seven people were reportedly injured after a post office roof in Kearny, New Jersey, collapsed with occupants still inside the building.

The National Weather Service's office in New York City reported having rainfall rates of at least 3 to 5 inches an hour in northeastern New Jersey and portions of New York City. The Newark Airport reported 3.4 inches between 8 p.m. and 9 p.m. EDT.

Central Park, New York, observed 3.10 inches of rainfall within just one hour, from 8:51 p.m. to 9:51 p.m. EDT.

The office issued a flash flood emergency for New York City, Brooklyn and Queens around 9:30 p.m., extending until 11:30 p.m. EDT. This was the first flash flood emergency issued for New York City, and the second flash flood emergency issued by the office. The first one had been issued only an hour prior for northeastern New Jersey.

The heavy rain continued in the New York City for several hours after that. Numerous roads were flooded and water rescues were performed. Mayor Hector Lora of nearby Passaic, New Jersey, said that one person died due to drowning inside a vehicle. Other occupants of the vehicle were rescued by emergency crews. Later, the mayor said that "multiple fatalities" had occurred throughout Passaic with people trapped in cars, although further details were not immediately available.

Multiple water rescues were reported in other towns in northern New Jersey and in New York City.

As the rain continued to pour down, numerous roads had to be closed and a state of emergency was declared in many communities, including Hoboken, New Jersey, and Lyndhurst, New Jersey. Then, just after 11:30 p.m. EDT, Mayor Bill de Blasio declared a state of emergency for New York City itself. In fact, even a police officer had be be rescued by other officers. In addition, subway service was suspended and a travel ban was put into effect in the city, which was due to last until 5 a.m. EDT Thursday morning.

After a state of emergency was declared by New York City's mayor, a state of emergency was also declared by New York's governor, Kathy Hochul.




_________________
Professionally Identified and joined WP August 26, 2013
DSM 5: Autism Spectrum Disorder, DSM IV: Aspergers Moderate Severity

It is Autism Acceptance Month

“My autism is not a superpower. It also isn’t some kind of god-forsaken, endless fountain of suffering inflicted on my family. It’s just part of who I am as a person”. - Sara Luterman