Ida Now a Tropical Storm

Aug. 30, 2021
More than 1 million people in Louisiana and Mississippi are without power Aug. 30 morning as Tropical Storm Ida moves out of Louisiana and into Mississippi

Ida is now a tropical storm after causing serious damage and making landfall in southeast Louisiana on Aug. 29.

This damage included the New Orleans metro area, and threats of flooding rainfall and isolated tornadoes will continue to spread inland from the South into parts of the East through midweek, reported The Weather Channel. 

Additionally, strong winds and storm-surge flooding are also anticipated near the northern Gulf Coast states on Aug. 30.

According to The Weather Channel, the center of Ida is located over the lower Mississippi Valley and heavy rain and winds are spreading from southeast Louisiana into Mississippi, Alabama and the western Florida Panhandle.

Ida is a Category 4 storm and hit on the anniversary of Hurricane Katrina, which struck Louisiana and Mississippi. According to AP News, Ida’s 150-mph winds tied it for the fifth-strongest hurricane to ever hit the mainland U.S., dropping hours later to a Category 1 storm with maximum winds of 95 mph as it went inland.

There are tropical storm warnings in effect from southeast Louisiana into southern and central Mississippi and southwest Alabama. The storm surge will keep water levels elevated Aug. 30 along the northern Gulf Coast.

It is anticipated that the most widespread impact going forward will be flooding rainfall from parts of the South into the East, reported The Weather Channel.

NOAA's Weather Prediction Center is forecasting the following storm total rainfall amounts:

  • Coastal Alabama to the western Florida Panhandle: 6 to 12 inches, with locally up 15 inches possible through Aug. 31 morning.
  • Central Mississippi into far western Alabama: 4 to 8 inches, with isolated totals up 12 inches possible through Aug. 30 night.
  • Middle Tennessee Valley to the Ohio Valley, central Appalachians and mid-Atlantic: 3 to 6 inches, with localized heavier totals Aug. 31 into Sep. 1.

According to The Washington Post, more than 1 million people in Louisiana and Mississippi are without power Aug. 30 morning as Tropical Storm Ida moves out of Louisiana and into Mississippi. At least one person was killed after a tree fell on them in Prairieville, Louisiana, about 65 miles northwest of New Orleans, according to the Ascension Parish Sheriff’s Office.

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Cristina Tuser