Louisiana Communities Face Severe Flooding After Hurricane Ida
NEW ORLEANS (AP) — Louisiana communities beginning the huge task of clearing debris and repairing the damage inflicted by Hurricane Ida are facing the dispiriting prospect of weeks without electricity in the oppressive, late-summer heat.
Ida ravaged the region’s power grid, leaving all of New Orleans and hundreds of thousands of other Louisiana residents in the dark with no clear timeline on when the electricity would come back on. Some areas outside New Orleans also suffered major flooding and damage to homes and businesses.
“I can’t tell you when the power is going to be restored. I can’t tell you when all the debris is going to be cleaned up and repairs made,” Gov. John Bel Edwards said Aug. 30. “But what I can tell you is we are going to work hard every day to deliver as much assistance as we can.”
The storm was blamed for at least four deaths in Louisiana and Mississippi, including two people killed Monday night when seven vehicles plunged into a 20-foot-deep (6-meter-deep) hole near Lucedale, Mississippi, where a highway had collapsed after torrential rains.
“There’s no running water. There’s no electricity. Our desperate need right now is tarps, gasoline for generators, food, water,” pastor Chad Ducote said on Aug. 31.
Some places are facing shortages of drinking water. About 441,000 people had no water service in 17 parishes, and an additional 319,000 people were under boil-water advisories, federal officials said.
Hurricane Ida blew ashore on the 16th anniversary of Katrina, the 2005 storm that breached New Orleans’ levees, devastated the city and was blamed for 1,800 deaths.
This time, New Orleans, protected by a major overhaul of its levees since Katrina, escaped the catastrophic flooding some had feared, even though the city got close to 14 inches (35 centimeters) of rain. Other parts of the state received almost 16 inches (40 cm), while Mississippi got over 13 (33 cm).
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