Hurricane Ida made landfall near Port Fourchon Sunday on the 16th anniversary of Hurricane Katrina as the second most damaging storm to hit Louisiana, leaving a path of destruction in its wake.
The storm made landfall as a Category 4 with sustained winds of 150 mph, tying with Hurricane Laura last year and the 1856 Last Island Hurricane. It was the fifth strongest storm to strike the continental United States.
Nearly one million homes and businesses lost power across the state, including the entire city of New Orleans. The total economic damages could reach $80 billion, according to AccuWeather.
The track of the hurricane shifted east as it made its way onto land, largely sparing Baton Rouge but devastating other parishes.
The continued lack of electricity combined with the heat could take a toll on residents’ health. There have been four direct deaths associated with the storm and an indirect death from an alligator attack.
Since Baton Rouge wasn’t hit as hard as the forecasts originally predicted, LSU came out mostly unscathed besides fallen branches and minor damage to some buildings. A few dorms lost power during the storm but most made it through without issue. Roughly 100,000 homes lost power across East Baton Rouge.
“Damage to campus was minimal, seems to be limited to just a few buildings, including some roof damage to a couple of buildings,” said Ernie Ballard, LSU media relations director.
While the rest of the second week of school is canceled, LSU is working to repair damages and clean up the fallen branches around campus.
Most of the levee systems around the state held up during the storm and prevented mass flooding.
“This was an extremely catastrophic storm,” Louisiana Gov. John Bel Edwards said during a press conference. “If there is a silver lining, and today it’s kind of hard to see that, it is that our levee systems performed really well.”
Many smaller communities across the state bore the brunt of the damage, particularly those along the coast. Residents of Laplace, a small town located on the west side of Lake Pontchartrain, took refuge in their attics and on their roofs as the floodwaters poured into their homes.
Students from these smaller communities will be dealing with a lot of rebuilding work over the coming weeks.
FEMA is offering financial assistance to communities hard hit by the storm to help with repairs, housing and other needs. They have also been shipping food, water and generators to respond to the storm. The National Guard has also been deployed to assist with disaster relief, rescuing people trapped in their homes and supplying people with food, water and medical supplies.
