Ida Leaves Louisiana Coast In The Dark, Many Without Power Amid Stifling Heat
NEW ORLEANS (CBSDFW/AP) — Louisiana communities battered by Hurricane Ida are now dealing with the possibility of weeks without power in the stifling, late-summer heat.
Ida ravaged the region's power grid, leaving 1 million people and businesses in Louisiana without power. The storm, now a tropical depression, crashed into the state as a Category 4 hurricane with 150 mph winds on Sunday, ripping the roofs off buildings and snapping power lines. The storm has been blamed for at least two deaths, but Louisiana's governor said the number will likely increase in the days to come.
The entire city of New Orleans is dark and officials say they don't know when power would return. The New Orleans airport remained closed to commercial flights for a third day. At least four deaths were blamed on the storm, including two people killed when Ida's torrential rains washed out a highway in George County, Mississippi, and seven vehicles plunged into the 20-foot hole.