Post-Ida Death Toll in Louisiana Tops 600,000

Image credit: EPA

On Sunday, the death toll from Hurricane Ida continued to grow, with many in the Northeast hoping to find individuals who had been lost in the floodwaters, while almost 600,000 customers in Louisiana were still without power a week after the storm hit.

Ida made landfall in Louisiana on August 29 as a Category 4 storm with sustained winds of 150 mph (240 kph). On Sunday, the death toll had risen to at least 13 individuals.

According to revised statistics released on Sunday, the hurricane slowed as it went north, but it still caused flash floods on the East Coast, killing at least 50 additional people.

Governor of New York, Kathy Hochul, stated that Ida’s rainfall broke records with a volume of 3.1 inches (7.8 cm) per hour, measured on Wednesday in New York City’s Central Park, which brought walls of water pouring into businesses, public transit systems, and 1,200 residences, costing more than $50 million in damages.

“The human toll was tremendous,” Hochul added, as quoted by Reuters, recalling a journey to East Elmhurst in the Queens neighborhood of New York City to survey the damage.

Other storm-related deaths have been recorded in Connecticut, Pennsylvania, and Maryland.

The number of hurricane fatalities in Louisiana, according to Governor John Bel Edwards, has risen to 13.

According to authorities, at least four of those victims died in Louisiana as a result of carbon monoxide poisoning caused by power generators.

According to PowerOutage.com, over 591,000 households and businesses in the state were without power as of Sunday due to the oppressive heat and humidity. Initially, 1.2 million people were without electricity.

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