Hurricane in the USA: After “Ida” it’s time to clean up

Two days after Hurricane “Ida”, the destruction caused by the storm, especially in the US state of Louisiana, becomes clear. In many regions people will not have electricity for a long time.

“The house has never shaken like this time,” says a woman in Louisiana who ate out hurricane “Ida” like the storms before it. But this time it got worse, the roof was destroyed, and around her, her residential area is a field of rubble. “I’ve lived here all my life, I’ve seen all the storms. It was supposed to be bad, but I didn’t expect it to come so close.”

On day two after “Ida” the extent of the destruction really becomes clear. With “Katrina” exactly 16 years ago it was the water that caused the destruction, this time it was the wind that overshadowed everything that the region has experienced in the last few decades. According to Governor John Bel Edwards, entire suburbs are uninhabitable. Many also still have water in their homes. On Monday you had to go out in boats to rescue people from their roofs. Apparently everyone is safe by now. Even so, the governor believes that the number of deaths will not stop at four.

After the storm comes the heat

The storm is gone, now the heat is coming, according to the weather report. 39 degrees today and tropical humid. But air conditioning systems don’t work because there is no electricity for more than a million people. The mast of an important utility line fell into the Mississippi. It is even more problematic that in the USA electricity traditionally comes into houses above ground. 3000 kilometers of cables are torn or lying on the ground. Fixing them will take weeks. Also for industry.

“We were hit very hard,” says Chett Chiasson, chief of the Port Port Fourchon oil terminal, southwest of New Orleans. This is exactly where hurricane “Ida” hit land and had the greatest impact. “We have no electricity, and that will be the case for a long time. We also have no running water,” said Chiasson. The port will be closed for weeks, only 90 percent of American crude oil from the Gulf of Mexico is landed here. “There is so much oil missing from the market in the next few days that prices will go up,” says Chaiasson. “Prices are going up because we process between 16 and 20 percent of our country’s oil needs every day.”

The next storm is already looming

“Ida” has now weakened to a tropical low pressure area and is moving north over the USA with storms and rain. Tomorrow it will reach Washington and New York. It rains up to 200 liters per square meter, streets are flooded. It is the height of the hurricane season and the water in the Atlantic is very warm. Tropical storm “Kate” will probably spare the USA, while a low pressure area off the west coast of Africa has the best chance of becoming tropical storm “Lars”.