Hurricane Ida brings flooding to Mississippi

Floodwaters from Hurricane Ida covered streets and surrounded homes in the Mississippi Gulf Coast region as the Hurricane blasted ashore Sunday in neighboring Louisiana - one of the most powerful storms ever to hit the U.S. Video from Biloxi filmed by Mississippi TV station WLOX showed cars submerged, houses in water, and strong winds whipping across the highways.

Hurrican Ida knocked out power to all of New Orleans, blowing roofs off buildings and reversing the flow of the Mississippi River as it rushed into one of the nation’s most important industrial corridors. U.S. Army Corps of Engineers spokesman Ricky Boyette said engineers detected a “negative flow” on the Mississippi River as a result of storm surge.

More than 1 million homes and businesses were without power in Louisiana, and over 40,000 customers were in the dark in Mississippi, according to PowerOutage.US, which tracks outages nationwide. President Joe Biden approved emergency declarations for Louisiana and Mississippi ahead of Ida’s arrival. He said Sunday the country was praying for the best for Louisiana and would put its “full might behind the rescue and recovery” effort once the storm passes.