Louisiana hospitals on emergency footing as devastating Hurricane Ida makes landfall

Concerns centre on whether state’s anti-flood levees can survive the storm

Fire chief TJ Pellegrin checks if residents are safe after Hurricane Ida passed in Bourg, Louisiana. Ida struck the coast of Louisiana on Sunday as a powerful Category 4 storm, 16 years to the day after Hurricane Katrina devastated New Orleans. AFP

Debris on a street in downtown New Orleans, Louisiana. Hurricane Ida packed winds of 240km/h. AFP

A building collapsed and damaged vehicles during Hurricane Ida in New Orleans, Louisiana. AFP

Michael Brown, who is homeless, rides out Hurricane Ida from his bed under a highway overpass in New Orleans. AFP

More than one million homes were left without power in the region. EPA

Firefighters cut through trees that fell on a road in Bourg. AFP

Montegut fire chief Toby Henry walks back to his fire truck in the rain. AFP

A girl blocks her face from the wind and rain produced by Hurricane Ida in New Orleans. AP

A section of roof that was blown off a building in the French Quarter of New Orleans. AP

A firefighter rests after the back-up generator went down in Bourg. AFP

People cross an intersection during Hurricane Ida in New Orleans. AFP

Rain batters Canal Street in New Orleans. AFP

Water enters a beach house in Grand Isle, Louisiana. Reuters

Firefighters pray as the hurricane eye wall gets close to the fire station in Bourg, Louisiana. AFP

US President Joe Biden speaks about the hurricane alongside Deanne Criswell, administrator of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, in Washington. AFP

Utility workers play in the wind from Hurricane Ida as they wait for the storm to pass to begin repairs in New Orleans. AFP

A utility worker photographs waves as they slam against a sea wall in Bay Saint Louis, Mississippi. AP

An abandoned vehicle is half submerged in a ditch in Bay Saint Louis. AP

Firefighters look out the window from a shelter as hurricane Ida passes in Bourg. AFP

A truck is seen in heavy winds and rain from Hurricane Ida in Bourg. AFP

Waves crash against the New Canal Lighthouse on Lake Pontchartrain. Reuters

A satellite image provided by the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration shows lightning swirling around the eye of Hurricane Ida as the storm approaches the Louisiana coast. AP

A satellite image shows Hurricane Ida in the Gulf of Mexico and approaching the coast of Louisiana. Reuters

A man takes pictures of high waves along the shore of Lake Pontchartrain. AP

Jesse Perez and Sergio Hijuelo walk through flooded streets near Lake Pontchartrain. AP

Jesse Perez and Sergio Hijuelo watch the high waves on Lake Pontchartrain. AP

Tony Hilliard and his family expose themselves to the elements as Hurricane Ida begins to make landfall in New Orleans. AP

Vehicles on a flooded street in Biloxi. AP

Jones Park in Gulfport, Mississippi, is flooded from Hurricane Ida's storm surge. AP

A resident on a jet ski tows a canoe to a flooded house in Bay Saint Louis. AP

A man takes photos on the edge of Lake Pontchartrain. AP

A wall of sandbags in Montegut, Louisiana. AFP

Hurricane Ida made landfall in the US on Sunday, and the extremely dangerous Category 4 storm threatened to plunge much of the Louisiana shoreline under water.

Traffic clogged highways as thousands of people left the southern state on Sunday. The National Weather Service in New Orleans warned anyone remaining to “shelter in place”, ideally in “an interior room”.

Ida gathered more strength overnight, faster than meteorologists had predicted only a day ago. It is the toughest test yet for the hundreds of miles of new levees built around New Orleans after the devastation of Hurricane Katrina.

It made landfall 16 years ago to the day, inundating historically black districts and killing more than 1,800 people.

Louisiana Governor John Bel Edwards said the storm, due to make landfall by Sunday afternoon, could be the state’s worst direct hit by a hurricane since the 1850s.

The state is also grappling with America’s third-highest rate of Covid-19 infections, with about 3,400 new cases reported on Friday alone.

Hospitals were treating about 2,450 Covid-19 patients, Mr Edwards said, and those in many of the state’s parishes were nearing capacity.

By the early hours of Sunday, Ida was a Category 4 hurricane on the five-step Saffir-Simpson scale, the National Hurricane Centre said. At 11am local time, it was located about 95 kilometres west-southwest of the mouth of the Mississippi River, and about 135km south of New Orleans, carrying top sustained winds of 240km per hour.

Rain gusted through New Orleans on Sunday morning, to which Robert Ruffin, 68, had fled with his family from their home in the city’s east.

“I thought it was safer,” he said from a downtown hotel. “It’s double trouble this time because of Covid.”

IDA’s landfall was only a few hours away, according to the NHC, which warned of life-threatening storm surges, potentially catastrophic wind damage and flooding rainfall.

“We’re as prepared as we can be, but we’re worried about those levees,” said Kirk Lepine, president of Plaquemines Parish on the state’s Gulf Coast.

Plaquemines is one of the most vulnerable parishes, where 23,000 people live along the Mississippi delta stretching into the Gulf. Mr Lepine feared levees along Highway 23 were not up to task.

“Water could go over top,” he said. “That's our one road in and out.”

Mr Edwards told CNN on Sunday that he believed the state's levees would be able to withstand the storm surge, though he expressed some doubt about parishes, such as Plaquemines, in the south.

“Where we’re less confident is further south where you have other protection systems that are not built to that same standard,” he said. “That's where we are most concerned about the impact of storm surge.”

Mr Edwards said on Saturday there were no plans to evacuate hospitals, and that state officials had been speaking with them to ensure their generators were working and that they had spare water on hand.

Officials ordered widespread evacuations of low-lying and coastal areas, jamming roads and leading some petrol stations to run dry as residents and tourists fled.

“This is a powerful and dangerous storm. It is moving faster than we had thought it would be, so we have a little less time to prepare,” said Dr Joseph Kanter, Louisiana's chief medical official. “There is a lot of Covid out there, there are a lot of risks out there.”

Power cuts expected

Utilities were bringing in extra crews and equipment to deal with expected power losses. US President Joe Biden said he has co-ordinated with electric utilities and 500 federal emergency response workers were in Texas and Louisiana to respond to the storm.

US energy companies reduced offshore oil production by 91 per cent and gas refiners cut operations at Louisiana plants in the path of the storm. Regional fuel prices rose in anticipation of production losses and on increased demand due to evacuations.

Coastal and inland oil refineries also began to cut production due to the storm. Phillips 66 shut its Alliance plant on the coast in Belle Chasse, while ExxonMobil Corp cut production at its Baton Rouge, Louisiana, refinery on Saturday.

Jean Paul Bourg, 39, was planning to ride out the storm in Morgan City, about 112km west of New Orleans. His wife's brother was recently discharged from hospital after contracting Covid-19 and had secured a generator to ensure access to oxygen if needed.

“You can't necessarily pile in with family members during Covid,” Mr Bourg said, after trimming trees and putting up plywood on his house. “More people than you'd think are sticking around.”