Customers throughout all of News Orleans, and over 1 million total across Louisiana and Mississippi, lost power from the potent hurricane.
Louisiana Governor John Bel Edwards expects that his state will see"many more confirmed fatalities" as a result of the damage caused by Hurricane Ida, said Christina Stephens, a spokesperson for the governor. Customers throughout all of News Orleans, and over 1 million total across Louisiana and Mississippi, lost power from the potent hurricane that made landfall in the U.S. Sunday before weakening into a tropical storm Monday.
The hurricane blew ashore on the 16th anniversary of Katrina, the storm that devastated New Orleans in 2005 and was blamed for 1,800 deaths. "We don't need to go through that. I'm going to have to convince him to leave. We got to go somewhere. Can't stay in this heat," she said. The governor's office said over 2,200 evacuees were staying in 41 shelters as of Monday morning, a number expected to rise as people were rescued or escaped from flooded homes. Stephens said the state will work to move people to hotels as soon as possible so that they can keep their distance from one another.
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. "We don't know if the damage is something we can get up quickly," Entergy New Orleans CEO Deanna Rodriguez told WWL-TV.
She last heard from them Sunday night. They were in the attic after water rushed into their home. Chaffold tried texting, but she didn't know if their phones were dead and or service was out.