Sixteen years to the day since Hurricane Katrina made landfall in New Orleans, Hurricane Ida — a stronger but smaller storm — reached the city, testing the levee system it built after the failures of the 2005 storm. [Axios]
- Ida made landfall in Louisiana on Sunday night as a category 4 storm, with winds as strong as 156 miles per hour. Planning was particularly complicated given that hospitals in Louisiana, as well as in neighboring Alabama and Mississippi, are already struggling with hospital capacity given a surge in delta variant Covid-19 cases. [Vox / Ellen Ioanes]
- As of Monday morning, more than 1 million Louisianans were without power, including the entirety of New Orleans. At least one person has died. [WSJ]
- Energy executives in New Orleans said they are still assessing the damage and do not yet have a timeline for restoring power. Several transmission lines and a tower have been knocked down. [Nola / Jeff Adelson]
- Unlike during Katrina, the flood protection system seems to have kept New Orleans from being drowned. Nowhere along the 192 miles of the system did floods breach through the barriers. But damage to four hospitals and the electricity failures mean New Orleans residents are still in danger. [NYT / Christopher Flavelle]
- Many residents were reminded of Hurricane Katrina, particularly regarding making the decision over whether or not to evacuate. Physical and mental health problems were concerns, but so was the pandemic and wanting to stay near hospitalized family members. [NPR / Shalina Chatlani and Aubri Juhasz]
- Ida, which is quickly weakening, has been downgraded to a tropical storm as it moves through Mississippi. Central Alabama and the western Florida panhandle are still projected to receive up to 15 inches of rain, but by the time the storm reaches the mid-Atlantic states, it is only expected to dump 3 to 6 inches. [The Weather Channel]