Hurricane Ida rapidly grew in strength early yesterday, becoming a dangerous Category 4 hurricane just hours before hitting the Louisiana coast while emergency officials in the region grappled with opening shelters for displaced evacuees, despite the risk of spreading COVID-19.
As Ida moved through some of the warmest ocean water in the world in the northern Gulf of Mexico, its top winds grew by 72kph to 230kph in five hours.
The system was expected to make landfall yesterday afternoon, set to arrive on the exact date Hurricane Katrina ravaged Louisiana and Mississippi 16 years earlier.
Ida threatened a region reeling from a resurgence of COVID-19 infections, due to low vaccination rates and the highly contagious Delta variant of SARS-CoV-2.
New Orleans hospitals planned to ride out the storm with their beds nearly full, as similarly stressed hospitals elsewhere had little room for evacuated patients.
Shelters for those fleeing their homes carried an added risk of becoming flashpoints for new infections.
On Grand Isle, where Ida appeared to be heading for landfall, the ocean steadily rose as increasingly bigger waves churned yesterday morning.
In New Orleans, where the worst weather is expected later, a light rain fell. Vehicles were parked on the median, which locals call neutral ground in New Orleans, because its a little higher and can protect against potential flooding.
Ida intensified so swiftly that New Orleans officials said there was no time to organize a mandatory evacuation of its 390,000 residents.
New Orleans Mayor LaToya Cantrell urged residents to leave voluntarily.
Those who stayed were warned to prepare for long power outages amid sweltering heat.
Nick Mosca was walking his dog, like most of those who were out.
“I’d like to be better prepared. There’s a few things I’m thinking we could have done, but this storm came pretty quick, so you only have the time you have,” Mosca said.
Louisiana Governor John Bel Edwards vowed on Saturday that Louisiana’s “resilient and tough people” would weather the storm.
He also said shelters would operate with reduced capacities “to reflect the realities of COVID.”
Edwards said Louisiana officials were working to find hotel rooms for many evacuees so that fewer had to stay in mass shelters.
He said that during last year’s hurricane season, Louisiana found rooms for 20,000 people.
“So, we know how to do this,” Edwards said. “I hope and pray we don’t have to do it anywhere near that extent.”
In coastal Gulfport, Mississippi, a Red Cross shelter posted signs displaying directions for evacuees along with warnings about COVID-19. With skies still sunny, only a handful of people had shown up on Saturday evening.
Shelter manager Barbara Casterlin said workers were required to wear masks. Evacuees were encouraged to do the same.
Anyone who refuses will be sent to an isolated area, she said, and so will people who are sick.
“We’re not checking vaccinations, but we are doing temperature checks two or three times a day,” Casterlin said.
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