2022 LSU Gumbo - Book - Page 81
Hurricane Ida, the second most damaging hurricane to
hit Louisiana on record, made landfall Aug. 29. The storm
left LSU students out of class for a few days on just the
second week back to school.
Hurricane Ida was a destructive category four hurricane
that affected Cuba, the Gulf Coast and parts of Northeast
America. It developed from a tropical wave into a major
hurricane in just three days, a seemingly unprecedented
evolution. Its wind speeds reached up to 150 miles per hour
at its peak. Some of the hardest hit areas were left without
power for weeks.
“On September 1st, Ida’s remnants delivered a regional
tornado outbreak to the northern Mid-Atlantic,” forecaster
and researcher Ian Livingston stated in a Washington Post
article. “Several tornadoes in this part of the event were
unusually strong for tropical remnants, probably in part
due to the storm transitioning to an extratropical system
featuring a warm front and a cold front.”
Over a million homes and businesses in Louisiana
were without power after the storm, including all of New
Orleans, where catastrophic damage occurred to the city’s
transformers. Although some hurricanes weaken when they
land, Ida remained a major hurricane for nine hours.
As the hurricane took out numerous telephone and
electrical lines in Louisiana, much of Southeast Louisiana
remained without 911 service. This is because a routing
facility that directed calls to each parish’s dispatch center
was out of service, according to Tyrell Morris, head of
emergency communications in New Orleans.
Millions of power outages took a toll on Louisiana,
leaving Entergy with numerous power lines to restore.
Some homes in Louisiana did not get power back until late
September.
“Ida’s historic intensity has brought a tremendous
amount of damage across Louisiana and Mississippi,”
Entergy’s home website stated in an update. “We have
made significant progress and in the coming days expect
this to continue. However, because of the extent of damage
and rebuilding required, we expect recovery to be difficult
and challenging, and customers in the hardest-hit areas in
Louisiana should expect extended power outages lasting for
weeks.”
Along with shortages in power, Louisiana also dealt with
a large shortage of gas. With people fueling their generators
with gas cans, it left the gas stations running extremely low.
Lines grew long and some people would wait almost two
hours to fill their car with gas.
With football season around the corner, the LSU football
team’s first game (scheduled for Sep. 4) against UCLA in
California was the light at the end of the tunnel to so many.
The hurricane unfortunately arrived over the weekend prior
and with the strongest winds expected to hit Baton Rouge
at the time. Therefore, with this knowledge in mind, LSU
moved its operations to Houston to avoid the storm and
continue preparation for the upcoming season.
Photos by Abby Kibler
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