The worst has come to bear with Hurricane Ida. The storm has quickly intensified right into a Category 4 beast and landfall in southeast Louisiana is imminent.

Ida strengthened over the course of Saturday and has 150 mph (241 kph) winds because it approaches the coast. The National Hurricane Center is already receiving experiences of sustained winds of 102 mph (165 kph)—the equal of Category 2 winds—hitting Louisiana, and issues will deteriorate from right here all through the day as Ida comes ashore with highly effective winds, crushing storm surge, and torrential rain. This would be the third main hurricane to strike Louisiana in a 12 months, following final 12 months’s Laura and Delta.

Ida additionally comes because the state is within the midst of its worst covid-19 wave for the reason that pandemic started together with a number of different background situations that can make the restoration from Ida that a lot tougher. In an period of what local weather justice essayist calls “crisis conglomeration,” that is it.

Ida’s Winds Are in Dangerous Company…

The winds are what are rightfully grabbing everybody’s consideration, however they’re removed from the one hazard. Ida is poised to be the fourth-strongest storm by windspeed to ever make landfall within the U.S., in keeping with hurricane expert Philip Klotzbach. That’s small consolation, although; the storms in Ida’s firm are a number of the worst to ever strike the nation. The two most up-to-date are Hurricane Andrew and Michael, multibillion-dollar disasters that wiped coastal communities off the map in Florida in 1992 and 2019 respectively.

… But Water Will Be the Biggest Concern With Ida

Not to dismiss the wind, however the best injury we’re prone to see from Ida will come from the water, which historically has been the best supply of hurricane destruction. Specifically, it’s about how a lot of it Ida pushes ashore and the way a lot the storm drops from the sky.

Storm surge may attain 16 ft (5 meters) alongside giant elements of the shoreline from the petrochemical hub of Port Fourchon (which can also be poised to take a direct hit from Ida’s eyewall and the strongest winds) to the mouth of the Mississippi River. Water will come ripping via the tidal marshes and bayous that appear like Swiss cheese from above, threatening the communities interspersed all through the area.

Then there’s the rain. Ida will convey curtains of precipitation throughout the area, removed from the place its eye makes landfall. The storm will decelerate because it strikes inland, which implies Ida’s bands of rain will repeatedly wash over the area. Up to 2 ft (0.6 meters) of rain may fall, unleashing catastrophic flooding far inland from the storm.

New Orleans sits exterior the trail of Ida’s eyewall, which is a small little bit of solely reasonably horrible information. But it’s on the northeast facet of the storm, which is usually the facet of most impression as a result of means hurricanes rotate. That means it may nonetheless see severe impacts (as may elements of the Mississippi Gulf coast. Parts of New Orleans exterior the town’s rebuilt levees may see greater than 6 ft (2 meters) of surge and a few pockets the place waters may rise greater than 9 ft (3 meters) as Ida pushes water ashore. The surge will check the levee system that was reconstructed after Katrina, nevertheless it’s designed to resist such a surge. This storm might be a serious check.