Hurricane Ida is gaining in strength and speed with winds measured in excess of 150 miles per hour. Those that are unable to evacuate are being told to shelter in place in an interior room of their homes and to have mattresses ready in case the structure gives way.

Ida is now forecast to be the STRONGEST hurricane to ever hit Louisiana with winds of 155-mph. Katrina made landfall with wind speeds of 125-mph. If the hurricane gains a mere 2-mph more, it goes from a category 4- to a category 5- hurricane.

If a storm has sustained winds of 157 mph or more, the storm is considered to be a category 5 hurricane according to the Saffir-Simpson Scale.

Some perspective on this storm in relation to Hurrican Katrina from CBM Certified Meteorologist Ella Dorsey:

“You have never experienced a hurricane this intense in terms of wind,” @WeatherProf says. “This is going to cause catastrophic damage.”

Yesterday we reported on the poor leadership of New Orleans Mayor Cantrell, who, with ample time to implement an emergency evacuation plan, instead claimed time was too short and urged residents to shelter in place:

The New Orleans Mayor LaToya Cantrell is asking all residents who do not evacuate to shelter in place for Hurricane Ida. She claims it’s too late to implement contraflow.  Contraflow is when highways are reversed so that people can leave the city. Typically, 8 hours is all that is needed to implement contraflow. Cantrell made the announcement yesterday so it was about 40 hours before the storm! This is plenty of time!

 Even worse, shelter animals are being moved to Houston but the city can’t help out the people?

Is this the next Katrina?

Cantrell called a press conference on Friday after Hurricane Ida’s forecast continued to strengthen. It is now forecast to make landfall west of New Orleans as a Cat. 4 storm.

“Time is not on our side. The City can not issue a mandatory evacuation because we do not have time.”

 

The mayor is asking that all New Orleans residents who don’t evacuate to shelter in place no later than midnight Saturday night.

The National Weather Service says the hurricane will be “extremely dangerous”:

 

 

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