Hurricane Ida, which hit Louisiana with speeds of about 145 mph Sunday and devastated parts of the state, is expected to have peak damage on Baton Rouge between 10 p.m. Sunday and 2 a.m. Monday with hurricane-force winds of at least 75 mph.
About 50,000 East Baton Rouge Parish residents lost power between 8 p.m. and about 8:50 p.m. Sunday night, with large portions of the Garden District, Riverbend and Southdowns among neighborhoods engulfed in the power outages, according to Entergy. Maps indicate that apartment complexes surrounding Tigerland and along Burbank Drive have also lost power.
On LSU’s campus, residents were encouraged to shelter in place until the storm passed and to move cars to parking garages. Residents of Azalea Hall have reported flickering power, but no outages yet.
East Campus Apartments have lost power, while Azalea Hall has lost partial power as of about 9:55 p.m., though power outlets are still functional, residents told The Reveille.
LSU Residential Life instructed all students living on campus to shelter in place starting at 6 p.m. Sunday night, adding that elevators would no longer function after a certain wind speed is reached. Residents were instructed to seek shelter in hallways if necessary.
“As soon as it is safe for our teams to navigate campus and begin assessing damages and making repairs, we will do that,” said Res Life. “Until then, let’s shelter in place together and stay safe.”
Power outages across the Parish reach over 120,000.
Activities and classes at LSU shut down from Saturday until Tuesday at the earliest, with administration waiting to assess damages before deciding when students can return and if the academic calendar will change.
Gov. John Bel Edwards warned residents across the state Sunday that emergency service providers will likely not respond to calls overnight as they brace for impacts.
“Nobody should be expecting that tonight a first responder is going to be able to answer a call for help,” said Edwards.
The Ascension Parish Sheriff’s Office reported the first death as a result of Hurricane Ida just before 8:30 p.m. Deputies responded to a fallen tree at a house in Prairieville and later confirmed one person died.
In just the last few hours, all of New Orleans has lost power as Hurricane Ida struck the city, the Associated Press reported.