As receding floodwaters revealed the full scope of the damage throughout the US Gulf Coast and the death toll grew to four, the US states of Louisiana and Mississippi took stock of the disaster wreaked by strong Hurricane Ida.
On Tuesday evening, about two days after Hurricane Ida blasted into the Louisiana coast as a Category 4 storm, New Orleans was under a curfew, precisely 16 years after the terrible Hurricane Katrina hit the city, killing over 1,800 people.
Four deaths have been reported as crews began searching towns cut off by the massive storm in boats and off-road vehicles. A man went missing after being allegedly murdered by an alligator.
Mayor LaToya Cantrell said on Twitter that she had issued an executive order imposing an evening curfew in New Orleans, which was still without electricity for the most part following Hurricane Katrina.
Power outage
Social media was inundated with images of people being retrieved from submerged automobiles and pictures of wrecked homes, but the damage in New Orleans remained minor.
All arriving and outgoing flights at New Orleans Airport were canceled on Tuesday, while airlines canceled roughly 200 flights on Wednesday.
Officials said that one person was killed by a fallen tree near Prairieville, while another died while attempting to drive through floodwaters 60 miles (95 kilometers) southeast of New Orleans.
According to outage tracker PowerOutage.us, Ida knocked out electricity for more than a million properties across Louisiana, with the majority still out Tuesday evening, leaving residents without air conditioning in the late summer.
According to the New Orleans Times-Picayune, power provider Entergy told New Orleans City Council members Tuesday morning that some electricity could be restored as early as Wednesday.
Hundreds of thousands of Louisianans are sweltering in the aftermath of Hurricane Ida, with no power, no running water, little gasoline, and no clear notion when things will get better.
At the few gas stations that had fuel and generator power to pump it, long lineups formed that extended around the block. Refrigerators were emptied of rotten food. Neighbors pooled generators and borrowed buckets of pool water for bathing and flushing toilets.
Hospitals, many of which are dealing with a rush of Covid patients, and sewage and water treatment centers would likely be the first to get power, according to the publication, which added that average users might still be disconnected for days.
Entergy had previously stated that assessing the entire scope of the damage may take days.
Death toll likely to rise
A road collapse in Mississippi, which has been battered by severe rain, killed two people and injured ten others, including three in serious condition, according to the state's highway patrol.
Louisiana Deputy Governor Billy Nungesser warned on Tuesday that the death toll could increase even higher, particularly in coastal areas directly struck by Ida, where search and rescue operations are still underway.
Meanwhile, a 71-year-old man was assaulted and "apparently killed by an alligator while walking in floodwaters following Hurricane Ida." according to authorities in St. Tammany Parish.
Ida moves to the northeast
President Joe Biden labeled Louisiana and Mississippi major disasters, allowing the states to receive federal assistance.
Biden spoke with Secretary of Energy Jennifer Granholm and the CEOs of two of the Gulf Coast's top utilities, Entergy's Leo Denault and Southern Co's Tom Fanning, about restoring power.
Louisiana Governor John Bel Edwards said his state had mobilized more than 1,600 search and rescue troops, while the Pentagon claimed nearly 5,200 military, federal emergency management, and National Guard personnel had been alerted across numerous southern states.
Ida, now a tropical depression, was menacing the Tennessee and Ohio Valleys as it moved northeast. According to the National Hurricane Center, it was predicted to hit the mid-Atlantic on Wednesday.
Scientists have warned that as the ocean surface warms owing to climate change, cyclone activity will increase, posing a greater hazard to the world's coastal towns.
