Hurricane Ida Reversed Flow of Mississippi River For Hours, Knocked Out Power for Entire City of New Orleans — And It’s Still a Category 3

Sarah RumpfAug 29th, 2021, 9:20 pm
 
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Photo by PATRICK T. FALLON/AFP via Getty Images.

Hurricane Ida battered Louisiana without mercy on Sunday, making landfall as a Category 4 storm and maintaining that windspeed for about six hours before being downgraded to a Category 3.

The storm’s winds and storm surge were so strong that the Mississippi River, which flows through New Orleans before it empties into the Gulf of Mexico, actually reversed its flow for several hours. According to a report by CNN:

Data from the US Geological Survey (USGS) indicates that the flow of the Mississippi River in New Orleans has partially reversed its flow due to the strong storm surge and winds from Hurricane Ida pushing up the river.

The river gauge at Belle Chasse, just southeast of central New Orleans, shows the surface velocity of the water slowing significantly on Sunday morning from 2 feet per second down to zero by 10 a.m. CDT.

The flow rate has been negative for the past three hours, reaching a peak of -0.21 feet per second at 12:45 p.m CDT.

NOLA Ready, New Orleans’ emergency response agency, reported that the entire city was without electricity. Subsequent news reports confirmed that the entire Orleans Parish was without power, and regional utility company Entergy reported about 700,000 customers were without power statewide.

Flash flood warnings were issued for New Orleans, Metairie, and Kenner until midnight local time.

Gov. John Bel Edwards (D-LA) told CNN that the entire Orleans Parish was without power, and nearly 800,000 Louisianans total were without power. Fortunately, the upgrades made to the New Orleans levees after Hurricane Katrina appeared to have been helpful, and the pump system had backup power from generators.

Ida is continuing to slowly make its way across Louisiana as a Category 3 storm, causing damage from high winds, flash flooding, and heavy rains.

This is a breaking story and may be updated.

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Sarah Rumpf - Contributing Editor

Sarah Rumpf joined Mediaite in 2020 and is a Contributing Editor focusing on politics, law, and the media. A native Floridian, Sarah attended the University of Florida, graduating with a double major in Political Science and German, and earned her Juris Doctor, cum laude, from the UF College of Law. Sarah's writing has been featured at National Review, The Daily Beast, Reason, Law & Crime, Independent Journal Review, Texas Monthly, The Capitolist, Breitbart Texas, Townhall, RedState, The Orlando Sentinel, and the Austin-American Statesman, and her political commentary has led to appearances on television, radio, and podcast programs across the globe. Follow Sarah on Bluesky and Threads.