Tropical Storm Ida is expected to make landfall as a major storm in Louisiana sometime Sunday afternoon as a category three hurricane.
Christopher Bannon with the National Weather Service in New Orleans says Ida is expected to become a hurricane Saturday once it gets into the Gulf of Mexico.
“We could possibly see tropical storm conditions hitting coastal Louisiana as early as Saturday evening,” said Bannon who added storm watchers were surprised by how rapidly this system coalesced and started picking up speed. “It didn’t develop until Thursday and it is already in the Western Caribbean so that really cut down on our timeframe for giving us a heads up.”
Projections show the storm making landfall somewhere near Lafourche, Terrebonne and St. Mary Parishes.
Morgan City Mayor Lee Dragna said prep is underway and as usual whenever a storm heads their way the people start clearing out the decks and the city readies its impressive flood prevention systems.
“We’re prepping the seawall closures, gates on the seawalls. This area is used to having tropical storms and hurricanes,” said Dragna. “We’re used to it, we had Andrew, we had Barry, we had multiple storms that I can remember and we always come through it, always.”
Dragna expects Morgan City will weather Ida much like it has past storms.
“Our drainage system is really good, our levees are really good, and all of our personnel with the city have prepped all of our equipment, checked everything out, filled em’ up with fuel and we’re ready to work,” said Dragna who cautioned that they are still preparing for the worst. “When they start getting into the north of the Gulf of Mexico where the water is really hot when it shallows up they tend to jump in category pretty quick.”
Lafourche Parish is bracing for storm surge, heavy winds, and the potential for a lot of water to fall across the region. Lafourche Parish Sheriff’s spokesperson Brennan Matherne said if this current track holds we could start seeing some evacuation orders issued as early as Friday for the southernmost areas of the parish like Port Fourchon.
Because of the high level of COVID spread, Matherne encouraged residents to start networking with family to find a place to evacuate to if the order is issued. He said shelters will be available, but that will put you around a lot of other people.
“As always we encourage people, if they have the means, to evacuate on their own to potentially visit family or book a hotel room. That is always the best way to go,” said Matherne.
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