State of Emergency In Louisiana As Monster Hurricane Ida Makes Landfall As Category 4 Storm

Hurricane Ida has rapidly strengthened into a major hurricane with maximum sustained winds of 150 MPH, just seven mph shy of a Category 5. The storm is set to strike Louisiana later this afternoon, evening, and on the same day, 16 years ago, Hurricane Katrina struck the area. According to Bloomberg calculations, Hurricane Ida could cause more than 40 billion in damages and losses based on its projected path according to an estimate from Chuck Watson, a disaster modeler at Enki Research. That would put it among the top 10 costliest U. S. storms, if a far cry from Katrina s 176 billion. Learn More: