Hurricane Ida traps Louisianans, leaves power grid in shambles

NEW ORLEANS (AP) — Rescue workers set out in hundreds of boats and helicopters to reach people trapped by floodwaters and utility crews mobilised Monday after a furious Hurricane Ida swamped the Louisiana coast and shattered a large swath of the state's electrical grid in the sweltering, late-summer heat.

One of the most powerful hurricanes ever to hit the US mainland weakened into a tropical storm overnight as it pushed inland over Mississippi with torrential rain and shrieking winds, its danger far from over.

Ida was blamed for at least one death — someone hit by a falling tree outside Baton Rouge — but with many roads impassable and cell phone service knocked out in places, the full extent of its fury was still coming into focus.

All of New Orleans lost power right around sunset Sunday as the hurricane blew ashore on the 16th anniversary of Katrina, leading to an uneasy night of pouring rain and howling wind.

The weather died down shortly before dawn, and people began carefully walking around neighbourhoods with flashlights, dodging downed light poles, pieces of roofs and branches.

“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.

An area just west of New Orleans got about 17 inches of rain in 20 hours, Greg Carbin of NOAA's Weather Prediction Centre tweeted.

The flooding from the rain and surge in the maze of rivers and bayous south of New Orleans threatened hundreds of homes.

On social media, people posted their addresses and directed search and rescue teams to their attics or rooftops.

Rescuers moved to launch hundreds of boats into the floodwaters in the morning.

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

Local and state agencies were adding hundreds of more.

More than a million customers in Louisiana and Mississippi were without power, according to PowerOutage.US, which tracks outages nationwide, increasing their vulnerability to flooding and leaving them without air conditioning and refrigeration.

Entergy said all eight major transmission lines into New Orleans were down and the only power was coming from generators, the city's emergency office tweeted, citing “catastrophic transmission damage.”

The city relies on Entergy for backup power for its stormwater pumps.

Follow The Gleaner on Twitter and Instagram @JamaicaGleaner and on Facebook @GleanerJamaica. Send us a message on WhatsApp at 1-876-499-0169 or email us at onlinefeedback@gleanerjm.com or editors@gleanerjm.com.