Hurricanes Ida, Katrina Devastate Southeast Louisiana 16 Years Apart
MIAMI (CBSMiami) – Hurricane Ida made landfall exactly 16 years to the day after Hurricane Katrina devasted New Orleans and the Northern Gulf Coast. While every storm or hurricane is different in structure, path, and destruction, it is difficult not to compare Hurricane Ida to Hurricane Katrina.
Katrina was a monstrous storm that formed over the central Bahamas as a tropical depression and quickly strengthened to a category 1 hurricane before making landfall in South Florida. Katrina then downgraded to a tropical storm but once it emerged into the Gulf of Mexico, it regained hurricane status. Katrina continued to strengthen as it tracked over the very warm waters of the Gulf of Mexico and eventually became a category 5 hurricane with winds of at least 160 mph.
Hurricane Ida, however, formed over the Caribbean Sea about 100 miles southwest of Jamaica, as a tropical depression. Then Ida strengthened to category 1 hurricane before moving across western Cuba. Ida impacted these parts of Cuba with maximum sustained winds of 81 mph. Ida then emerged into the Gulf waters as it tracked northwesterly and rapidly intensified to a major hurricane within 24 hours.
Ida went from a category 1 Hurricane during the late morning on Saturday, August 28th, to a dangerous category 4 hurricane overnight into Sunday morning.
The landfalls between Hurricane Ida and Hurricane Katrina were different but awfully too close in resemblance.
Hurricane Ida made landfall Sunday, August 29th, at 11:55 am CDT near Port Fourchon in southeastern Louisiana. Port Fourchon is located 18 miles southwest of Grand Isle and about 60 miles south of New Orleans.
Hurricane Katrina made landfall on the same date, August 29th, just 45 miles southeast of New Orleans with the storm's eye over Buras in Plaquemines Parish, LA. Katrina's landfall occurred earlier in the morning at about 6:10 am CDT.
While Ida and Katrina made landfall as major hurricanes, Ida was stronger at landfall than Katrina. Hurricane Katrina did reach category 5 status, but this happened over the Gulf water. So by the time Katrina made landfall, the hurricane had rapidly weakened down to a category 3 with maximum sustained winds of 126 mph.
Unlike Hurricane Ida which made landfall as a category 4 hurricane with maximum sustained winds of 150 mph.
When it comes to the official storm surge reports from Hurricane Ida, those are not yet known as of Monday afternoon, but meteorologists at the National Hurricane Center had forecast for up to 16 feet of surge from Port Fourchon, LA to the Mouth of the Mississippi River and up to 12 feet for Lake Borgne which is east of New Orleans and Lake Pontchartrain.
Hurricane Katrina officially produced a 26-foot storm surge in Mississippi's coast from Gulfport to Biloxi. In New Orleans, the storm surge occurred after the levees systems broke and so by August 30th, one day after landfall, 80% of the city was under at least 20 feet of water.
It is still too soon after Hurricane Ida's landfall to know the extent of the damage left behind but Hurricane Katrina cost the United States $160 billion in damage and took the lives of 1,833 people.
Stay tuned to CBS 4 and on CBSMiami.com for continuing coverage and updates on Hurricane Ida's aftermath.