From Houma to New Orleans and beyond, Hurricane Ida plowed thru Louisiana Sunday.
With winds of 150 miles an hour, it is the most powerful storm to hit the state since the 1850s. Even hurricane-jaded New Orleanians feared Ida.
So imagine what it was like for Phoenix resident Dr. Sam Shi, a neurology fellow at Tulane University Medical Center in New Orleans who experienced his first hurricane.
“Luckily I’m in a high rise in the central business district and this is within the levee system which worked beautifully this time,” Dr. Shi said.
While downtown New Orleans did not experience the sort of flooding many parts of Louisiana received. The powerful winds, ripped off roofs, uprooted trees, and traffic signals.
“I’ve seen significant damage to buildings,” Dr. Shi said. “Below mine, a one-story brick building is completely destroyed.”
New Orleans and most of its suburbs are without power.
Eight electric transmission lines were either damaged or destroyed by the storm.
“Right now, we’re out of power. It’s pretty steamy in NOLA during the summer,” Dr. Shi said. “That’s a minor inconvenience you know. Just happy to make it through it and hoping everyone else in New Orleans is as unaffected and as safe as can be.”
Unfortunately, that may not be possible, Entergy, the power company which services Louisiana, said it will take four days just to assess the damage in the New Orleans area.
It will take months before everyone’s electricity will be restored.
