SUBSCRIBE TO OUR FREE NEWSLETTER
Daily news & progressive opinion—funded by the people, not the corporations—delivered straight to your inbox.
5
#000000
#FFFFFF
5
#000000
#FFFFFF
Residents drive north on Interstate Highway 55 near Magnolia, Mississippi, as they evacuate away from New Orleans on August 28, 2021 before the arrival of Hurricane Ida. (Photo: Patrick T. Fallon / AFP via Getty Images)
Experts Warn of 'Potentially Catastrophic' Destruction as Hurricane Ida Reaches New Orleans
The storm is expected to be one of the strongest ever to hit Louisiana, rivaling Hurricane Laura in 2020.
Aug 29, 2021
This is a developing story and may be updated.
Weather experts on Sunday said their worst-case-scenario predictions about Hurricane Ida, which damaged homes and knocked down trees in Cuba on Friday, appeared to be coming true as the tropical cyclone made its way towards New Orleans with winds rushing at 150 miles per hour.
The hurricane made landfall Sunday afternoon in southeastern Louisiana.Thousands of people had evacuated on Saturday.
The National Hurricane Center warned the storm could bring "potentially catastrophic" damage from winds and a "life-threatening" storm surge in the coastal area, with destruction from flooding and other effects extending more than 100 miles inland.
Meteorologists recorded 150mph peak winds, putting the storm two miles per hour short of a Category 5 hurricane.
Forecasters expressed anguish on social media and in weather reports as they watched the storm approach New Orleans on the 16th anniversary of Hurricane Katrina's landfall.
\u201cI feel ill watching this hurricane. The eyewall lightning activity, the structure observed via radar, the satellite presentation, and the aircraft observations all highlight a strong and still-intensifying storm. Right up to landfall.\u201d— Dr. Kim Wood, @drkimwood@mastodon.world (@Dr. Kim Wood, @drkimwood@mastodon.world) 1630240536
"Worst case scenario unfolding for Louisiana," said Tom Di Liberto, a meteorologist at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). "Absolutely sick to my stomach seeing this."
The expected ocean surge could inundate areas with up to 16 feet of water in some places. New Orleans was expected to see more than a foot of rainfall. The National Weather Service warned that "extremely dangerous flash flooding" could result if the city gets more than 15 inches of rain, which could overwhelm its system of nearly 100 pumps.
Locals who hadn't evacuated on Saturday were cautioned to shelter in place on Sunday morning, as the approaching storm's winds had already made highway travel perilous.
Meteorologists are typically hesitant to connect a single extreme weather event to the climate crisis, but as Discover Magazine reported Saturday, the planetary emergency fueled by fossil fuel extraction is "supercharging" storms like Ida.
"Monster storms cause enormous damage not only because of their winds," wrote Tom Yulsman, director of the Center for Environmental Journalism and a blogger for the magazine. "They also dump unimaginable amounts of water. And research shows that thanks to climate change, they've been getting wetter."
Yulsman continued:
That's happening for a number of reasons. First, a warmer atmosphere can carry more moisture. Research shows that for every one degree Celsius (1.8 degrees Fahrenheit) increase in temperature, the atmosphere can hold 7 percent more moisture. So far, the globe has warmed by about 1.1 degrees Celsius since preindustrial times.
On Twitter, climate scientist Katherine Hayhoe said the question of whether the climate crisis "causes" hurricanes like Ida is "the wrong question."
"The right one is, 'How much worse did climate change make it?" Hayhoe said.
\u201cClimate change didn't cause Hurricane Ida, an "explosively intensifying tropical storm" bearing down on Louisiana on the anniversary of Katrina. But it's virtually certain it made it worse. https://t.co/kWHmX6QPSr\u201d— Prof. Katharine Hayhoe (@Prof. Katharine Hayhoe) 1630244188
"Given that science has already showed that a warmer ocean and other aspects of climate change are leading to much faster intensification of hurricanes," Hayhoe added, "the question today is not, to paraphrase climate scientist Kevin Trenberth, how could climate change affect this event--but rather how could it NOT, as it is occurring over the massively altered background conditions of our 1.1C warmer planet."
An Urgent Message From Our Co-Founder
Dear Common Dreams reader, The U.S. is on a fast track to authoritarianism like nothing I've ever seen. Meanwhile, corporate news outlets are utterly capitulating to Trump, twisting their coverage to avoid drawing his ire while lining up to stuff cash in his pockets. That's why I believe that Common Dreams is doing the best and most consequential reporting that we've ever done. Our small but mighty team is a progressive reporting powerhouse, covering the news every day that the corporate media never will. Our mission has always been simple: To inform. To inspire. And to ignite change for the common good. Now here's the key piece that I want all our readers to understand: None of this would be possible without your financial support. That's not just some fundraising cliche. It's the absolute and literal truth. We don't accept corporate advertising and never will. We don't have a paywall because we don't think people should be blocked from critical news based on their ability to pay. Everything we do is funded by the donations of readers like you. Will you donate now to help power the nonprofit, independent reporting of Common Dreams? Thank you for being a vital member of our community. Together, we can keep independent journalism alive when it’s needed most. - Craig Brown, Co-founder |
Our work is licensed under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0). Feel free to republish and share widely.
This is a developing story and may be updated.
Weather experts on Sunday said their worst-case-scenario predictions about Hurricane Ida, which damaged homes and knocked down trees in Cuba on Friday, appeared to be coming true as the tropical cyclone made its way towards New Orleans with winds rushing at 150 miles per hour.
The hurricane made landfall Sunday afternoon in southeastern Louisiana.Thousands of people had evacuated on Saturday.
The National Hurricane Center warned the storm could bring "potentially catastrophic" damage from winds and a "life-threatening" storm surge in the coastal area, with destruction from flooding and other effects extending more than 100 miles inland.
Meteorologists recorded 150mph peak winds, putting the storm two miles per hour short of a Category 5 hurricane.
Forecasters expressed anguish on social media and in weather reports as they watched the storm approach New Orleans on the 16th anniversary of Hurricane Katrina's landfall.
\u201cI feel ill watching this hurricane. The eyewall lightning activity, the structure observed via radar, the satellite presentation, and the aircraft observations all highlight a strong and still-intensifying storm. Right up to landfall.\u201d— Dr. Kim Wood, @drkimwood@mastodon.world (@Dr. Kim Wood, @drkimwood@mastodon.world) 1630240536
"Worst case scenario unfolding for Louisiana," said Tom Di Liberto, a meteorologist at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). "Absolutely sick to my stomach seeing this."
The expected ocean surge could inundate areas with up to 16 feet of water in some places. New Orleans was expected to see more than a foot of rainfall. The National Weather Service warned that "extremely dangerous flash flooding" could result if the city gets more than 15 inches of rain, which could overwhelm its system of nearly 100 pumps.
Locals who hadn't evacuated on Saturday were cautioned to shelter in place on Sunday morning, as the approaching storm's winds had already made highway travel perilous.
Meteorologists are typically hesitant to connect a single extreme weather event to the climate crisis, but as Discover Magazine reported Saturday, the planetary emergency fueled by fossil fuel extraction is "supercharging" storms like Ida.
"Monster storms cause enormous damage not only because of their winds," wrote Tom Yulsman, director of the Center for Environmental Journalism and a blogger for the magazine. "They also dump unimaginable amounts of water. And research shows that thanks to climate change, they've been getting wetter."
Yulsman continued:
That's happening for a number of reasons. First, a warmer atmosphere can carry more moisture. Research shows that for every one degree Celsius (1.8 degrees Fahrenheit) increase in temperature, the atmosphere can hold 7 percent more moisture. So far, the globe has warmed by about 1.1 degrees Celsius since preindustrial times.
On Twitter, climate scientist Katherine Hayhoe said the question of whether the climate crisis "causes" hurricanes like Ida is "the wrong question."
"The right one is, 'How much worse did climate change make it?" Hayhoe said.
\u201cClimate change didn't cause Hurricane Ida, an "explosively intensifying tropical storm" bearing down on Louisiana on the anniversary of Katrina. But it's virtually certain it made it worse. https://t.co/kWHmX6QPSr\u201d— Prof. Katharine Hayhoe (@Prof. Katharine Hayhoe) 1630244188
"Given that science has already showed that a warmer ocean and other aspects of climate change are leading to much faster intensification of hurricanes," Hayhoe added, "the question today is not, to paraphrase climate scientist Kevin Trenberth, how could climate change affect this event--but rather how could it NOT, as it is occurring over the massively altered background conditions of our 1.1C warmer planet."
This is a developing story and may be updated.
Weather experts on Sunday said their worst-case-scenario predictions about Hurricane Ida, which damaged homes and knocked down trees in Cuba on Friday, appeared to be coming true as the tropical cyclone made its way towards New Orleans with winds rushing at 150 miles per hour.
The hurricane made landfall Sunday afternoon in southeastern Louisiana.Thousands of people had evacuated on Saturday.
The National Hurricane Center warned the storm could bring "potentially catastrophic" damage from winds and a "life-threatening" storm surge in the coastal area, with destruction from flooding and other effects extending more than 100 miles inland.
Meteorologists recorded 150mph peak winds, putting the storm two miles per hour short of a Category 5 hurricane.
Forecasters expressed anguish on social media and in weather reports as they watched the storm approach New Orleans on the 16th anniversary of Hurricane Katrina's landfall.
\u201cI feel ill watching this hurricane. The eyewall lightning activity, the structure observed via radar, the satellite presentation, and the aircraft observations all highlight a strong and still-intensifying storm. Right up to landfall.\u201d— Dr. Kim Wood, @drkimwood@mastodon.world (@Dr. Kim Wood, @drkimwood@mastodon.world) 1630240536
"Worst case scenario unfolding for Louisiana," said Tom Di Liberto, a meteorologist at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). "Absolutely sick to my stomach seeing this."
The expected ocean surge could inundate areas with up to 16 feet of water in some places. New Orleans was expected to see more than a foot of rainfall. The National Weather Service warned that "extremely dangerous flash flooding" could result if the city gets more than 15 inches of rain, which could overwhelm its system of nearly 100 pumps.
Locals who hadn't evacuated on Saturday were cautioned to shelter in place on Sunday morning, as the approaching storm's winds had already made highway travel perilous.
Meteorologists are typically hesitant to connect a single extreme weather event to the climate crisis, but as Discover Magazine reported Saturday, the planetary emergency fueled by fossil fuel extraction is "supercharging" storms like Ida.
"Monster storms cause enormous damage not only because of their winds," wrote Tom Yulsman, director of the Center for Environmental Journalism and a blogger for the magazine. "They also dump unimaginable amounts of water. And research shows that thanks to climate change, they've been getting wetter."
Yulsman continued:
That's happening for a number of reasons. First, a warmer atmosphere can carry more moisture. Research shows that for every one degree Celsius (1.8 degrees Fahrenheit) increase in temperature, the atmosphere can hold 7 percent more moisture. So far, the globe has warmed by about 1.1 degrees Celsius since preindustrial times.
On Twitter, climate scientist Katherine Hayhoe said the question of whether the climate crisis "causes" hurricanes like Ida is "the wrong question."
"The right one is, 'How much worse did climate change make it?" Hayhoe said.
\u201cClimate change didn't cause Hurricane Ida, an "explosively intensifying tropical storm" bearing down on Louisiana on the anniversary of Katrina. But it's virtually certain it made it worse. https://t.co/kWHmX6QPSr\u201d— Prof. Katharine Hayhoe (@Prof. Katharine Hayhoe) 1630244188
"Given that science has already showed that a warmer ocean and other aspects of climate change are leading to much faster intensification of hurricanes," Hayhoe added, "the question today is not, to paraphrase climate scientist Kevin Trenberth, how could climate change affect this event--but rather how could it NOT, as it is occurring over the massively altered background conditions of our 1.1C warmer planet."
We've had enough. The 1% own and operate the corporate media. They are doing everything they can to defend the status quo, squash dissent and protect the wealthy and the powerful. The Common Dreams media model is different. We cover the news that matters to the 99%. Our mission? To inform. To inspire. To ignite change for the common good. How? Nonprofit. Independent. Reader-supported. Free to read. Free to republish. Free to share. With no advertising. No paywalls. No selling of your data. Thousands of small donations fund our newsroom and allow us to continue publishing. Can you chip in? We can't do it without you. Thank you.