In the United States, Louisiana observes the “catastrophic” damage of Hurricane Ida

Published on : 08/31/2021 – 03:21

Electricity cut, streets flooded, roofs torn … the inhabitants of Louisiana measured Monday, August 30 the extent of the damage caused by the passage, Sunday, of Hurricane Ida, carrying winds of 240 km / h.

The first very tangible consequence of Ida’s gusts: more than a million homes were still without electricity on Monday evening, according to the specialized site PowerOutage.US.

“The damage is really catastrophic,” lamented its governor John Bel Edwards to NBC. At least two people were killed, the first by a fall from a tree in the market town of Prairieville and the second while trying to cross a flooded road in New Orleans.

Supported by the National Guard, the US Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) has dispatched more than 5,200 people to help the victims, the Pentagon said. Federal assistance will continue “as long as it takes,” President Joe Biden said in a meeting with FEMA officials as well as governors and mayors of affected communities.

In the city of LaPlace, west of New Orleans, which Ida hit hard, members of the National Guard got down to saving residents trapped in the water all day long, helped by several helicopters, trucks and boats. The damage was more limited in the historic center of New Orleans, Louisiana’s largest city, where some took to the streets, defying the authorities’ orders to stay at home, facing the risk of flash floods, or electrocution.

One hurricane is chasing another

Destroyed gas stations, overturned trucks, submerged houses and roads: so many scenes of desolation that have become sadly redundant, in this southern state of the United States, where one hurricane often drives another. But as the surface of the oceans warms, storms are getting more powerful, scientists warn. In particular, they pose an increasing risk to coastal communities.

And everyone still has in mind the painful memory of Katrina, a hurricane that made landfall on August 29, 2005, in Louisiana, 16 years to the day before Ida’s arrival. More than 1,800 people had died and the damage had run into billions of dollars.

Insurance companies estimate that Hurricane Ida caused $ 15-20 million in damage, according to preliminary estimates.

Downgraded to a tropical depression Monday night, Ida was now speeding over the Mississippi, one of the poorest states in the United States, threatened with flooding.

With AFP