Health officials from Louisiana in the United States on Wednesday reported 11 additional deaths in the aftermath of Hurricane Ida, taking the toll to 26 in the state, according to AP.
So far, 82 people have died in the US because of the storm, CBS News reported.
All 11 deaths were reported from New Orleans, most of whom were citizens aged 60 and above, AP reported. The health department said nine citizens died of “excessive heat during an extended power outage”, while two died due to carbon monoxide poisoning.
New Orleans has been without electricity for the last 10 days after the storm hit on August 29.
With its wind speeds of 230 km per hour, Hurricane Ida is the fifth-strongest storm that the United States has endured. It arrived in Louisiana and Mississippi with an intensity that reversed the flow of the Mississippi river and damaged many houses.
The electricity was cut off subsequently. Louisiana’s power company had said that 90% of the power would be restored by Wednesday. However, about 3.42 lakh homes and businesses remained without power supply on Wednesday, according to AP.
There has also been a severe water shortage as 44,000 residents had not received any till Wednesday, AP reported. More than 5.7 lakh people had started boiling water.
Meanwhile, 3,200 people remained at shelters as their houses were severely damaged. About 25,000 people stayed in hotel rooms through the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s transitional sheltering programme.
Last week, President Joe Biden had said that the damage from Ida indicated that “extreme storms and the climate crisis are here”. He added that “historic investment” was necessary to deal with climate change.
“This is one of the great challenges of our time, but I am confident we will meet it,” Biden had said. “We are the United States of America. My message to everyone affected is: ‘We’re all in this together’. The nation is here to help.”
Biden, who had visited Louisiana to assess the damage last week, promised federal aid to the state, Reuters reported.
The hurricane had also killed 18 people in New York, Pennsylvania and New Jersey last week. New York and New Jersey had declared a state of emergency as heavy rain inundated the streets, brought the subway metro to a standstill and hampered flight services.
During a state of emergency, a government suspends normal constitutional procedures in case of a disaster or a situation that poses a danger to the country.
The National Weather Service had also issued a flash flood emergency for the first time.
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