Mississippi freeway collapses in Hurricane Ida’s wake, Louisiana grapples with energy, water woes

Two individuals had been killed and 10 injured when a deep crevasse opened up on a Mississippi freeway within the wake of heavy rains unleashed by Hurricane Ida, a robust storm that left elements of Louisiana and neighbouring states with out energy, officers mentioned on Tuesday.
Three individuals amongst these injured had been in important situation, in accordance with the Mississippi Highway Patrol. The collapse affected a portion of Highway 26 in George County, about 50 miles (80 km) northeast of Biloxi.

“We’ve had a lot of rain with Ida, torrential,” Mississippi Highway Patrol officer Calvin Robertson mentioned. “Part of the freeway simply washed out.
“Seven autos plunged into the ditch, which was 50 toes (15 meters) lengthy and 20 toes (6 meters) deep, Robertson mentioned on CNN.
Ida, one of the highly effective hurricanes ever to hit the US Gulf Coast, had weakened to a tropical melancholy by late Monday because it churned over Mississippi, the place the system introduced heavy rains in a single day.
A flooded metropolis is seen within the aftermath of Hurricane Ida, Monday, Aug. 30, 2021, in Lafitte, La. (AP)
The storm, which deluged Louisiana with rain and killed not less than two individuals within the state, brought about widespread energy outages throughout Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama, and prompted rescue operations in flooded communities round New Orleans.
Ida is one in all a sequence of highly effective storms to pound the US Gulf Coast lately. Climate change is fueling lethal and disastrous climate throughout the globe, together with stronger and extra damaging hurricanes.
On Tuesday, officers warned residents in regards to the hidden risks of floodwaters which may convey wildlife nearer to neighbourhoods.
Sheriff’s deputies in St. Tammany Parish had been investigating the disappearance of a 71-year-old man after an obvious alligator assault within the floodwaters introduced on by the storm.
New Orleans Firefighters assess damages as they appear by way of particles after a constructing collapsed from the consequences of Hurricane Ida, Monday, Aug. 30, 2021, in New Orleans, La. (AP)
The man’s spouse informed authorities that she noticed a big alligator assault her husband within the tiny Avery Estates group about 35 miles (55 km) northeast of New Orleans on Monday. She stopped the assault and pulled her husband out of the floodwater. Seeing that his accidents had been extreme, she took a small boat to get assist, and got here again to search out her husband gone, the sheriff’s workplace mentioned in an announcement.
By early Tuesday, about 1.3 million prospects remained with out energy, most of them in Louisiana, in accordance with PowerOutage, which gathers information from US utility corporations.

Entergy Corp, a serious energy provider, mentioned it may take weeks earlier than electrical energy is restored within the hardest-hit areas. Damage to eight high-voltage traces shut off electrical energy in New Orleans and close by parishes, and elements of a transmission tower toppled into the Mississippi River on Sunday evening.
The outages had been additionally straining the main waste disposal programs within the metropolis. As of Monday, 80 of the 84 sewer pumping stations had misplaced energy, elevating the chance of backups. The New Orleans Sewerage & Water Board couldn’t be reached for an replace on Tuesday morning.
 
Waves crash in opposition to a lighthouse on Lake Pontchartrain as the consequences of Hurricane Ida start to be felt in New Orleans, Louisiana. (Reuters)
Officials in Jefferson Parish within the New Orleans metropolitan space requested residents to preserve water to stop sewage system backups. At least six giant tanker vehicles stuffed with potable water had been stationed outdoors the principle campus of Ochsner Medical Center in New Orleans on Tuesday morning.
Compounding the problems in Ida’s aftermath, elements of Louisiana and Mississippi had been beneath warmth advisories with temperatures forecast to succeed in as much as 105 Fahrenheit (40.6 Celsius) on Tuesday, the National Weather Service mentioned.
“The heat advisory for today does pose a big challenge,” the company’s New Orleans outpost mentioned on Twitter. “While it is advisable to preserve hydrated, know if you happen to’re beneath a boil water advisory.
“Widespread flooding and energy outages additionally slowed efforts on Tuesday by power corporations to evaluate damages at oil manufacturing amenities, ports and refineries.

Ida made landfall on Sunday as a Category 4 hurricane, 16 years to the day after Hurricane Katrina, evoking reminiscences of a catastrophe that killed greater than 1,800 individuals in 2005 and devastated New Orleans.
But a $14.5 billion system of levees, flood gates and pumps designed within the wake of Katrina’s devastation largely labored as designed throughout Ida, officers mentioned, sparing New Orleans from the catastrophic flooding that devastated the realm 16 years in the past.
The state’s healthcare programs additionally appeared to have largely escaped catastrophic harm at a time when Louisiana is reeling from a resurgence of COVID-19 infections that has strained hospitals.