Hurricane Ida: First death confirmed as powerful storm batters US

30 August 2021, 11:03 | Updated: 31 August 2021, 11:29

Vehicles are damaged after the front of a building collapsed in New Orleans during Hurricane Ida
Vehicles are damaged after the front of a building collapsed in New Orleans during Hurricane Ida. Picture: Getty

By Patrick Grafton-Green

The first death has been confirmed as Hurricane Ida, one of the most powerful storms ever to hit the US, batters the country's coast.

The storm knocked out power to all of New Orleans, blowing roofs off buildings and reversing the flow of the Mississippi River as it rushed from the Louisiana coast.

A person was found dead following a report of a fallen tree on a home in Prairieville, the Ascension Parish Sheriff's Office said on Facebook.

READ MORE: Hurricane Ida hits Louisiana as people brace for 150mph winds and severe flooding

Prairieville is a suburb of Baton Rouge, Louisiana's capital city.

The power outage in New Orleans heightened the city's vulnerability to flooding and left hundreds of thousands of people without air conditioning and refrigeration in sweltering summer heat.

More than two million people living in and around New Orleans and Baton Rouge are under threat.

Ida - a Category 4 storm - hit on the same date Hurricane Katrina ravaged Louisiana and Mississippi 16 years ago, coming ashore about 45 miles west of where Category 3 Katrina first struck land.

Ida's 150 mph winds tied it for the fifth-strongest hurricane to ever hit mainland US.

It gathered strength as it moved through some of the warmest ocean water in the world in the northern Gulf of Mexico over the weekend.

As it travelled inland it dropped to a Category 1 storm with maximum winds of 95 mph.

Louisiana governor John Bel Edwards told The Associated Press: "This is going to be much stronger than we usually see and, quite frankly, if you had to draw up the worst possible path for a hurricane in Louisiana, it would be something very, very close to what we're seeing."

The entire city of New Orleans was without power late on Sunday, according to city officials.

The city's power supplier - Entergy - confirmed that the only power in the city was coming from generators, the city's Office of Homeland Security & Emergency Preparedness said on Twitter.

The city relies on Entergy for backup power for the pumps that remove storm water from city streets.

More than two million customers were without power in Louisiana, and over 40,000 were in the dark in Mississippi, according to PowerOutage.US, which tracks outages nationwide.

In New Orleans, wind tore at awnings and caused buildings to sway and water to spill out of Lake Ponchartrain.

US Army Corps of Engineers spokesman Ricky Boyette said engineers detected a "negative flow" on the Mississippi River as a result of the storm surge.

Officials said Ida's swift intensification from a few thunderstorms to a massive hurricane in just three days left no time to organise a mandatory evacuation of New Orleans' 390,000 residents.

The region getting Ida's worst includes petrochemical sites and major ports, which could sustain significant damage.

It is also an area that is already reeling from a resurgence of Covid-19 infections due to low vaccination rates and the highly contagious delta variant.

New Orleans hospitals planned to ride out the storm with their beds nearly full, as similarly stressed hospitals elsewhere had little room for evacuated patients.

The hurricane was also threatening neighbouring Mississippi, where Katrina demolished oceanfront homes.

Katrina was blamed for 1,800 deaths as it caused levee breaches and catastrophic flooding in New Orleans.

President Joe Biden approved emergency declarations for Louisiana and Mississippi ahead of Ida's arrival.

He said on Sunday the country was praying for the best for Louisiana and would put its "full might behind the rescue and recovery" effort once the storm passes.

More Latest News

See more More Latest News

Thomas Frank is putting together his Tottenham side ahead of the 2025/26 season

How Tottenham could line up in 2025/26

Josh Rock and Daryl Gurney celebrate after winning the world cup

Northern Ireland stars burst into tears after historic victory at World Cup of Darts

The USS Nimitz has cancelled a planned port call and is heading west as the conflict in the Middle East intensifies

US aircraft carrier heads west as Israel and Iran exchange strikes for fourth day as fighting intensifies

Gemma Southall, 38, last seen in Norwich on Saturday.

Police launch urgent hunt for woman, 38, last seen in pink vest and flip flops missing since Saturday

.

Who is Blaise Metreweli - the real life M and first female head of MI6?

Exclusive
Economic Secretary to the Treasury Emma Reynolds was flummoxed by questions about the Lower Thames crossing

Treasury minister unable to answer basic questions on £10bn Thames crossing in car crash LBC interview

Belinda Taylor, left, and Adam Harrison, right, died during a tandem jump on Friday.

Tributes pour in for 'selfless' mother-of-four and 'wonderful' skydiving instructor who died during tandem jump

An Air India flight takes off.

Air India Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner flight forced to turn back with 'technical issue'

NATO Scramble RAF Typhoons Four Times In Seven Days To Intercept Russian Aircraft

RAF fighter jets scrambled six days in a row as fifteen Russian military aircraft intercepted

J.J. Spaun holds the U.S. Open trophy

JJ Spaun hails 'fairytale' victory as Robert MacIntyre’s US Open dream crushed

The trilateral Aukus partnership, believed to be aimed at countering China, involves building a new fleet of nuclear-powered attack submarines and co-operating in other areas of defence

Starmer has 'no doubt' Trump will back Aukus submarine deal despite ‘America First’ review

Falmouth youth fights for Transgender rights as Section 35 enacted repealing a Scottish Bill that would benefit the transgender community

Nearly 10,000 gender certificates granted as Gen Z applications soar

Israeli security personnel and first responders inspect an area hit by an Iranian missile strike on central Tel Aviv.

Israel-Iran LIVE: At least five dead and 287 injured in latest strikes on Tel Aviv as fighting enters its fourth day

Seven men who groomed two vulnerable teenage girls in Rochdale were found guilty of multiple offences last week

Starmer calls in 'Britain's FBI' to investigate grooming gangs after U-turn on national inquiry

Vance Boelter, 57, is suspected of fatally shooting the Democratic state representative Melissa Hortman and her husband, Mark

Man suspected of shooting Minnesota politicians in 'targeted assassination' arrested after two-day manhunt

Firefighters work to extinguish a blaze after a missile launched from Iran struck Haifa, in northern Israel, on Sunday, June 15, 2025. (AP Photo/Rami Shlush)

UK warns against all travel to Israel as missile strikes continue into third night