Category 4 Hurricane Ida Hits Louisiana, Prompting Evacuations

Hurricane Ida is making landfall as a 150 mph Category 4 storm today. It is one of the strongest storms to make landfall in Louisiana.

Ironically, Ida hit on the 16th anniversary of the devastating Hurricane Katrina.

Extreme winds and a life-threatening storm surge will follow Ida tonight along the coasts of Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama, triggering tornado watches. The risk of tornadoes will increase throughout the day and evening for parts of Alabama, Florida, Louisiana and Mississipp.

Over 285,000 customers were left without electric power in Louisiana so far in the affected areas. Ida is projected to move northward through Louisiana today and then eastward and north through Mississippi tomorrow.

Ida has also triggered concerns about the availability of hospital beds, as the healthcare system is already overwhelmed with Covid-19 patients. Shelters in Louisiana are working at reduced capacities during the pandemic, but state officials are attempting to secure hotel rooms for evacuees.

The Augurisk Health Infrastructure risk index can help find the nearest available bed in your area, based on multiple risk components, including the number of health practitioners in your county, the distance to the nearest primary acute care or critical access hospital in the HIFLD Hospitals Database, and the size of the nearest hospital, as expressed by its number of beds.

New Orleans expects 15-20 inches of rain from Ida, which will increase the risks of flooding in the area. You can find out if your property is at risk of coastal flooding, tornadoes, and storm events at augurisk.com