Hurricane Ida makes landfall in the US as the most powerful storm ever, kills 1

Hurricane Ida made landfall as one of the most powerful storms ever to hit the United States. The hurricane hit the country's southwest coast with strong winds, stormy precipitation, and pond surf that swept much of the coastline in Louisiana.

All of New Orleans, Louisiana's most popular city, experienced power loss caused by the "catastrophic transmission damage," local services reported on Sunday.

As per reports, one person was killed after sustaining injuries caused by a fallen tree in the New Orleans suburb of Prairieville.

Ida, a Category 4 storm, made landfall on the same date as Hurricane Katrina, which had devastated the southern states of Louisiana and Mississippi 16 years ago.

The storm's 150 miles per hour (230 kilometres per hour) wind bound it for the fifth strongest hurricane to ever hit the US. It fell hours later on a Category 2 storm with a maximum wind speed of 105 km / h (165 km / h) as it crossed inland, its eye about 65 miles (65 km) west-northwest of New Orleans.

Inhabitants of the most exposed coastal areas were asked to evacuate days in advance.

"I almost got myself in a panic attack when news broke that this was Katrina's birthday," said Janet Rucker, a lifelong New Orleans resident and recently retired sales manager who lives downtown with her dog, Deuce.

The stormy approach also forces the suspension of emergency medical services in New Orleans and elsewhere in a state already disturbed by the fourth wave of COVID-19 infections that have tormented Louisiana's health care system. For approximately 2,450 COVID-19 patients who are in hospitals, many in intensive care units, the evacuation was not an option.

A loss of generator power at Thibodaux Regional Health System Hospital in Lafourche Parish, southwest of New Orleans, has forced medical workers to manually help patients with respiratory distress while moving to another floor, the state health agency Reuters news agency has confirmed.

Governor of Louisiana John Bel Edwards stated that Hurricane Ida could be the most powerful storm to hit the state since 1850.

"There is no difficulty that the coming days and weeks will be remarkably difficult," he stated at an announcement on Sunday, noting that some people on the ground had to be protected for up to 72 hours.

The governor stated he expects newly reinforced levees to be stationed in New Orleans, saying they were "built for the moment."