At least one person died in United States’ Louisiana and power supply was knocked off in all of New Orleans as Hurricane Ida hit the two states on Sunday, AP reported.
One of the most powerful storms to have ever hit the country, Ida ravaged several houses and reversed the flow of the Mississippi river. An unidentified person died in Prairieville suburb of Louisiana following a report of a fallen tree on a home, the local sheriff said.
A Category 4 storm, according to the US weather department, Ida hit on the same date on which Hurricane Katrina crashed onto Louisiana and Mississippi 16 years ago. With wind speeds reaching 230 km per hour, Ida was the fifth strongest hurricane to hit the US.
It has since been downgraded to a Category 1 storm.
Videos showed heavy rains lashing and flooded localities in the two states. One of the videos from the US National Hurricane Centre captured the eye of the storm too.
Louisiana Governor John Bel Edwards said that virtually no one in the state had electricity, and many water systems had also gone out of service. The governor warned that the toll was likely to increase and urged people to stay indoors, Reuters reported.
US President Joe Biden declared a major disaster in New Orleans, while Federal Emergency Management Agency Administrator Deanne Criswell said the full impact of the storm would be known later on Monday.
Louisiana is one of the most important industrial corridors of the US and the region worst affected by Ida has petrochemical sites and major ports, which could sustain significant damage, according to AP.
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