Hurricane Ida strikes Louisiana as Category 4 storm

Hurricane Ida slammed into the coast of Louisiana Sunday as a powerful Category 4 storm, 16 years to the day after deadly Hurricane Katrina devastated the southern US city of New Orleans.
"Extremely dangerous Category 4 Hurricane Ida makes landfall near Port Fourchon, Louisiana," the National Hurricane Center wrote in an advisory.
Ida struck the port, approximately 100 miles (160 kilometers) south of New Orleans, at 1655 GMT, packing maximum sustained winds estimated at 150 miles per hour.
President Joe Biden called Ida "a life-threatening storm" that "continues to rage and ravage everything it comes in contact with." Speaking after a briefing with federal emergency managers, he urged anyone on the storm's path to hunker down immediately and heed official warnings. 
Ahead of Ida's arrival, showers and strong wind swept New Orleans' deserted streets throughout the morning, buffeting boarded-up windows at businesses and homes surrounded by sandbags. 
The National Hurricane Center warned of catastrophic wind damage and life-threatening storm surges through the region.
State Governor John Bel Edwards said Ida could be the most powerful storm to hit the state since 1850.

Amid urgent warnings of catastrophic damage, most residents had heeded authorities' instructions to flee. Scores of people packed bumper-to-bumper roads leading out of New Orleans in the days preceding Ida's arrival.
Meanwhile, Governor Edwards warned on Sunday that Ida would be "a very serious test for our levee systems," an extensive network of pumps, gates and earthen and concrete berms that was expanded after Katrina.
The memory of Katrina, which made landfall on August 29, 2005, is still fresh in Louisiana, where it caused some 1,800 deaths and billions of dollars in damage.
Rainfall of 10 to 18 inches (25 to 46 centimeters) is expected in parts of southern Louisiana through Monday, with up to 24 inches in some areas.
The storm is expected to begin weakening as it moves over land, with a predicted track taking it north over the central US before veering eastward, reaching the mid-Atlantic region by Wednesday.