Tracking Hurricane Ida: Reports of severe damage, stranded residents and widespread power outages
Hurricane Ida preliminarily goes down as tied for the fifth strongest hurricane to make landfall in the United States based on wind speed: https://www.wltx.com/article/news/nation-world/tracking-hurricane-ida/507-8663e952-1a7d-414c-8574-d128e643e7c9
Ida, a powerful Category 4 hurricane, officially made landfall near Port Fourchon, Louisiana, according to the National Hurricane Center.
It was a Category 4 storm with max sustained winds around 150 mph, with gusts up to 160 mph.
Official landfall occurs when the center of the eye passes over land. This ties Laura (2020) and Last Island (1856) for the strongest hurricane by wind speed to hit Louisiana. It is also the 2nd strongest hurricane by pressure at 930 mb. Hurricane Katrina was at number one with 920 mb.
There have only been 4 hurricanes on record in the U.S. since 1851 that have made landfall with 155 mph max winds before: Labor Day (1935), Camille (1969), Andrew (1992), and Michael (2019). All of those were Category 5 storms.
A Hurricane Warning has been issued for practically the entire Louisiana and Mississippi coast.
