Hurricane Ida slams Louisiana, Mississippi

One of the most powerful storms ever to hit the United States blasted ashore on Sunday. Hurricane Ida made landfall at Port Fourchon, La., just before noon as a Category 4 storm with winds of 150 mph. From there, the eye of the storm roared inland, passing just to the west of New Orleans on the same date that Hurricane Katrina ravaged the region 16 years ago. Ida knocked out power to all of New Orleans and is blamed for at least one death, as a tree fell on a home in Prairieville, a suburb of Baton Rouge.

How bad is the damage? Wind tore at awnings, water spilled out of Lake Ponchartrain in New Orleans, and boats broke loose from their moorings. Engineers detected a “negative flow” on the Mississippi River as a result of storm surge, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers spokesman Ricky Boyette said. Early Monday, Ida became a tropical storm with winds up to 60 mph. The storm is expected to push northeast through the rest of the week, bringing strong winds and rain through Nashville and Charleston, all the way up to New England.

Dig deeper: From the WORLD archives, read Jamie Dean’s report on residents displaced by Hurricane Katrina.