Crews move to rescue people stranded by Hurricane Ida in Louisiana
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People caught in a sudden rain shower in a flooded neighborhood of LaPlace, Louisiana, on Aug. 30, as a volunteer high water truck assists people evacuating from homes in the area. Photo: Patrick T. Fallon/AFP via Getty Images
Crews were working to rescue people trapped by former Hurricane Ida's floodwaters as utility workers moved to try and restore power to over 1 million customers in Louisiana and nearly 60,000 others in Mississippi Monday, per AP.
The big picture: NASA Earth said preliminary data suggests Ida was the fifth-strongest storm "ever to make landfall in the continental U.S." when it hit Louisiana as a Category 4 hurricane Sunday, leaving New Orleans with no electricity except power from generators.
- The deadly storm weakened to a strong tropical depression on Monday. But it was bringing heavy rains, flash flooding, storm surge and extreme winds as it moved across Mississippi.
- The threat of heavy rains and flooding was expected to continue to spread across parts of the Tennessee and Ohio Valley overnight and into Tuesday, according to the National Hurricane Center.
Of note: The Louisiana Department of Health reported a second death from the storm on Monday, a man who drowned while trying to get his vehicle through floodwater in New Orleans.
- Two people died and 10 were injured Monday night when a highway collapsed in Mississippi after the storm swept through, the state Highway Patrol said.
In photos: Ida pummels Gulf Coast
Go deeper: Louisiana governor says damage from Hurricane Ida is "catastrophic"
Editor's note: This article has been updated with further details of the forecast, the impact of the storm, rescue and recovery operations and more photos.
