Rescuers rush to save those stranded by Hurricane Ida amid 'catastrophic' power outage

Rescuers set out in hundreds of boats and helicopters to reach people trapped by floodwaters Monday, and utility repair crews rushed in after a furious Hurricane Ida swamped the Louisiana coast and made a shambles of the electrical grid in the sticky, late-summer heat.

People living amid the maze of rivers and bayous along the state's Gulf Coast retreated to their attics or rooftops and posted their addresses on social media with instructions for search-and-rescue teams on where to find them.

More than one million customers in Louisiana and Mississippi — including all of New Orleans — were left without power as Ida, one of the most powerful hurricanes ever to hit the U.S. mainland, pushed through on Sunday and early Monday before weakening into a tropical storm.

The damage was so extensive that officials warned it could be weeks before the power grid was repaired.

President Joe Biden met virtually on Monday with Louisiana Gov. John Bel Edwards and Mississippi Gov. Tate Reeves along with mayors from cities and parishes most impacted by Hurricane Ida to receive an update on the storm's impacts, and to discuss how the Federal Government can provide assistance.

"We are closely coordinating with State and local officials every step of the way," Biden said.

The administration said more than 3,600 FEMA employees are deployed to Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, and Texas. FEMA staged more than 3.4 million meals, millions of litres of water, more than 35,700 tarps, and roughly 200 generators in the region in advance of the storm

As the storm continued to make its way inland with torrential rain and shrieking winds, it was blamed for at least two deaths — a motorist who drowned in New Orleans, and a person hit by a falling tree outside Baton Rouge.

But with many roads impassable and cellphone service knocked out in places, the full extent of the storm's fury was still coming into focus. Christina Stephens, a spokesperson for Edwards, said that given the level of destruction, "We're going to have many more confirmed fatalities."

The governor's office said damage to the power grid appeared "catastrophic." And officials warned it could be weeks before power is fully restored, leaving multitudes without refrigeration or air conditioning during the dog days of summer, with highs forecast in the mid-80s to close to 90 by midweek.

Ida blew ashore on the 16th anniversary of Hurricane Katrina, the storm that devastated New Orleans in 2005 and was blamed for 1,800 deaths.

"For the most part, all of our levees performed extremely well — especially the federal levees — but at the end of the day, the storm surge, the rain, the wind all had devastating impacts," Edwards said. "We have tremendous damage to homes and to businesses."

'Long miserable night'

When daylight came, the streets of New Orleans were littered with branches and some roads were blocked. But there no immediate reports of the catastrophic flooding city officials had feared.

"I had a long miserable night," said Chris Atkins, who was in his New Orleans home when he heard a "kaboom" and all the sheetrock in the living room fell into the house. A short time later, the whole side of the living room fell onto his neighbour's driveway.

"Lucky the whole thing didn't fall inward. It would have killed us," he said.

The misery isn't over for many. Stephanie Blaise returned to her home with her father in New Orleans' Lower Ninth Ward after evacuating. It only lost some shingles. But without power and no idea when electricity would be restored, she didn't plan to stay long.

"We don't need to go through that. I'm going to have to convince him to leave. We got to go somewhere. Can't stay in this heat," she said.

New Orleans police reported receiving numerous reports of theft from businesses and said they made several arrests.

The city urged people who evacuated to stay away for at least a couple of days because of the lack of power and fuel. "There's not a lot of reasons to come back," said Collin Arnold, chief of emergency preparedness.

'This is a COVID nightmare'

Four Louisiana hospitals were damaged and 39 medical facilities were operating on generator power, the Federal Emergency Management Agency said. Officials said they were evacuating scores of patients to other cities.

The governor's office said more than 2,200 evacuees were staying in 41 shelters as of Monday morning, a number expected to rise as people were rescued or escaped from flooded homes. Stephens said the state will work to move people to hotels as soon as possible so that they can keep their distance from one another.

"This is a COVID nightmare," she said. "We do anticipate that we could see some COVID spikes related to this."

WATCH | Rescuers race to save those stranded by Hurricane Ida: 

Hurricane Ida leaves path of destruction, 1 million without power

3 years ago

Duration 2:25

Hurricane Ida left a path of destruction after making landfall Sunday, leaving one million people without power and untold damage in its wake.

Interstate 10 between New Orleans and Baton Rouge — the main east-west route along the Gulf Coast — was closed because of flooding, with the water reported to be four feet deep at one spot, officials said.

Preliminary measurements showed Slidell, La., got at least 40 centimetres of rain, while New Orleans received nearly 36 centimetres, forecasters said. Other parts of Louisiana and Mississippi, Alabama and Florida got 12-28 centimetres.

The Louisiana National Guard said it activated 4,900 guard personnel and lined up 195 high-water vehicles, 73 rescue boats and 34 helicopters.

Jefferson Parish in suburban New Orleans knew of 500 people who said they were going to stay in areas that were flooded, and it began sending out dozens of boats, Parish Council member Deano Bonano told WWL-TV.

Farther south, emergency officials had not heard from Grand Isle since Sunday afternoon. About 40 people stayed on the barrier island, which took the brunt of the hurricane and was swamped by seawater, Jefferson Parish President Cynthia Lee Sheng told NBC.

30,000 utility workers called to action

The hurricane twisted and collapsed a giant tower that carries key transmission lines over the Mississippi River to the New Orleans area, causing widespread outages, local authorities and officials with a power company said.

The power company Entergy said more than 2,000 miles of transmission lines were out of service along with 216 substations.

The storm also flattened utility poles, brought trees down onto power lines and caused transformers to explode with flashes that lit up the night sky.

"We don't know if the damage is something we can get up quickly," Entergy New Orleans CEO Deanna Rodriguez told WWL-TV.

The governor said on Sunday that 30,000 utility workers were in the state to help restore electricity.

AT&T's phone system was down all across southeastern Louisiana. Many people resorted to using walkie-talkies. The governor's office staff had no working phones.

People who evacuated struggled to check on those who didn't leave. Charchar Chaffold left her home near LaPlace, La., for Alabama after a tree fell on the house Sunday. She frantically tried to get in touch with five family members who stayed behind.

She last heard from them Sunday night. They were in the attic after water rushed into their home. Chaffold tried texting, but she didn't know if their phones were dead or if service was out or both.

"They told me they they thought they was going to die, I told them they are not and called for help," she said.

Ida's 230 km/h winds tied it for the fifth-strongest hurricane ever to hit the mainland. Winds were down to 72 km/h early Monday.

In Mississippi's southwestern corner, entire neighbourhoods were surrounded by floodwaters, and many roads were impassable.

Ida was expected to pick up speed Monday night before dumping rain on the Tennessee and Ohio River valleys Tuesday, the Appalachian mountain region Wednesday and the nation's capital on Thursday.

Forecasters said flash flooding and mudslides are possible along Ida's path before it blows out to sea over New England on Friday.