“We’re doing all we can” -U.S President’s plea to hurricane ravaged state

All the updates on Hurricane Ida as the tropical storm wrecks havoc across the New Orleans coastline, causing further devastation

The US President announced on Monday that Biden administration officials will meet with local leaders to assess the devastation caused by Hurricane Ida. 

It comes as New Orleans residents and emergency services commence the gruelling task of rescue and cleanup along the state’s coast.

“We know Hurricane Ida had the potential to cause massive, massive damage, and that’s exactly what we saw,” Biden said, speaking from the White House.

More than 5,000 members of the national guard were deployed to support search, rescue and recovery attempts. 

But as wild weather continues to sweep across the state, Biden asks residents to seek shelter if safe to do so and to rest assured that help is well on its way. 

Now downgraded to a category three tropical storm, the National Hurricane Center (NHC) expects heavy rainfall to cross southeast Louisiana, Mississippi and western Alabama.   

Further flooding is also expected to occur, likely to impact portions of the Tennessee Valley, the Ohio Valley and Central and Southern Appalachians.

Drones launched to assess hurricane damage 

The federal government will also look at initiating authorised drones and satellites to assess the damage.

They’ll also work alongside energy providers to help restore power to more than one million Louisiana homes. 

“We’re doing all we can to minimise the amount of time it’s going to take to get power back up for everyone in the region.”

President joe biden

“We’re going to stand with you and the people of the Gulf as long as it takes for you to recover.”

Hurricane Ida continues to devastate

Two casualties have been reported so far – an increase of one from yesterday – however Louisiana Governor John Bel Edwards says the death toll could rise significantly. 

“This is going to be a long haul…We are still in a life-saving mode here, doing search and rescue.”.

Louisiana Governor John Bel Edwards

In the last 36 hours, around 20 water rescues were conducted across three separate counties.

Additionally, four nursing homes in Mississippi are running on generators while some hospitals are functioning on a mix of electric grid and generator sources, according to Jim Craig, senior deputy and director of the Mississippi Department of Health.

Eight-hundred people were also rescued by St. John the Baptist Parish, in what parish president Jaclyn Hotard called a “parish-wide disaster”. 

It’s the first time in 24 hours that residents in the area were able to make phone calls, access the internet and check emails.

“All of our communication systems had failed – even the backups that we had to our communication systems failed, and those backups to the backups failed.”

Jaclyn Hotard, St. John the Baptist Parish President

“We were pretty much cut off from any communication.” 

Affected universities and schools to close for 2 weeks

The education sector also faces repercussions with some primary, secondary and tertiary institutions forced to close for up to two weeks. 

Tulane campus in Louisiana closed its campus earlier on Monday, cancelling all classes through to September 12. 

Jefferson and St Tammany Parishes, among some other schools, are expected to move to remote learning, with several other education facilities closed until further notice.

Tornado warnings in place for two counties 

And if things weren’t bad enough already, a tornado warning has been issued for parts of two Alabama counties.

Residents in central Lee and northeastern Macon counties are advised to seek immediate shelter, until 4.30pm local time. 

While winds are easing, a thorough assessment to evaluate the damage will not occur until it’s safe to do so. 

The NHC warns that all residents and rescue crews must use extreme caution during the recovery phase as that’s where more injuries – some life-threatening – are likely to occur.

“Post-storm fatalities and injuries often result from heart attacks, heat exhaustion, accidents related to clean up and recovery, and carbon monoxide poisoning from improper generator use,” the NHC says.

Ticker will continue to update our readers on Louisiana’s situation as the news breaks.

Written by Rebecca Borg