Hurricane Ida Blasts Ashore In Louisiana With Major Force

Hurricane Ida blasted the Louisiana coast on Sunday, with the eye of one of the most powerful storms to ever hit the U.S. coming ashore near the barrier island of Grand Isle with violent winds of 150 mph (241 kph).

Ida’s landfall came on the same date Hurricane Katrina ravaged Louisiana and Mississippi 16 years earlier, about 40 miles (64 kilometers) west of where Category 3 Katrina first struck land.

The storm is expected to move across the southeast Louisiana wetlands, weakening only slightly, and to bring devastating weather to New Orleans and Baton Rouge

Ida rapidly intensified overnight as it moved through some of the warmest ocean water in the world in the northern Gulf of Mexico.