Flooding….
Loss of Power….
And In New Orleans?
The levee’s held……
Search and rescue teams fanned out across southeast Louisiana on Monday, trying to assess the damage wrought by Hurricane Ida and respond to calls for help that had gone unanswered as the region was battered by the storm.
In Jefferson Parish, where there have been reports of people climbing into their attics to escape rising waters, the authorities had received at least 200 rescue calls since Sunday and crews were anxious to get to those who may still need their help, said Cynthia Lee Sheng, president of Jefferson Parish.
Much of New Orleans remained without electricity. All eight transmission lines that deliver power to the city were knocked out of service by Ida, which made landfall late Sunday morning near Port Fourchon with maximum sustained winds of 150 miles an hour. By early Monday morning, the hurricane had weakened to a tropical storm as it moved inland.
Entergy, a major power company in Louisiana, said on Twitter Monday that it would “likely take days to determine the extent of damage to our power grid and far longer to restore electrical transmission to the region.”
Dozens of streets in New Orleans were flooded with runoff from the storm’s heavy rains, according to the National Weather Service, which advised people to remain sheltered in place. But the system of levees, barriers and pumps that protect New Orleans appeared to have held firm against the onslaught of Hurricane Ida, officials said, passing the most dramatic test since being expanded and hardened after Hurricane Katrina.
Officials had yet to assess the scope of the damage from debris and unmoored vessels, but could say, early on Monday, that the levees succeeded in keeping back the water.
“There were no levee breaches or overtopping” within the system managed by the Flood Protection Authority, said a spokeswoman, Kimberly Curth. “There have been no issues with our pumps.”….