Ida strengthens into Category 4 ahead of Louisiana landfall

NEW ORLEANS, La. — Hurricane Ida intensified into a Category 4 tempest Sunday greeting up of its expected landfall successful Louisiana.

The National Weather Service said astatine 7 a.m. ET that Ida’s maximum sustained winds had reached 150 mph. Based connected the Saffir-Simpson scale, hurricanes with upwind speeds betwixt 130 and 156 mph are considered Category 4 storms.

The tempest is present expected to marque landfall sometime successful the aboriginal day oregon precocious morning, though the bluish Gulf Coast volition consciousness the effects of the beardown tempest earlier that.

Ahead of the storm, Louisiana Gov. John Bel Edwards held a property league Saturday implicit what to expect. During his remarks, the politician said Ida volition beryllium 1 of the strongest storms to deed Louisiana since astatine slightest the 1850s.

The National Hurricane Center says “extremely life-threatening” tempest surge inundation of 9 feet oregon greater supra crushed level is imminent determination wrong the country from Burns Point, Louisiana, to Ocean Springs, Mississippi.

“Overtopping of section levees extracurricular of the hurricane and Storm Damage Risk Reduction System is imaginable wherever section inundation values whitethorn beryllium higher,” said the NHC.

The NHC says “catastrophic” upwind harm is apt wherever the halfway of Ida moves onshore on the southeast seashore of Louisiana starting Sunday morning. Hurricane-force winds are expected Sunday successful the hurricane informing country on the Louisiana coast, including successful metropolitan New Orleans.

“Damaging winds, particularly successful gusts, volition dispersed inland adjacent the way of the halfway of Ida crossed portions of southeastern Louisiana and southwestern Mississippi (Sunday) done aboriginal Monday,” wrote the NHC. “These winds volition apt pb to wide histrion harm and powerfulness outages.”

Officials accidental Ida volition nutrient dense rainfall Sunday done Monday crossed the cardinal Gulf Coast from southeastern Louisiana, coastal Mississippi, to acold southwestern Alabama, resulting successful sizeable to life-threatening flash and municipality flooding and important stream flooding.

As Ida moves north, winds speeds are acceptable to gradually alteration and the storm's class volition drop.

“As Ida moves inland, important flooding impacts are imaginable crossed portions of the Lower Mississippi, Tennessee, and Ohio Valleys done Wednesday,” the NHC said.

Ida's landfall successful Louisiana volition travel 16 years to the time aft Hurricane Katrina deed New Orleans and devastated parts of the region.