MEMPHIS, Tenn. — As Hurricane Ida gains strength before it hits Louisiana, help from the Mid-South is on the way.
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) sent a 13-member Emergency Power Planning and Response Team in support of FEMA’s Hurricane Ida recovery efforts. The so-called Power Team will work with FEMA, state, and local organizations to provide emergency temporary power.
So far, the USACE has received six FEMA Mission Assignments and alerted Planning & Response Teams for Debris, Temporary Roofing, Infrastructure Assessment, Temporary Housing, and Temporary Power in support of those missions.
As of late Sunday morning, Hurricane Ida has rapidly grown in strength, becoming a dangerous Category 4 hurricane just before hitting the Louisiana coast near one of the country’s main centers for drilling for and transporting oil. The U.S. National Hurricane Center says the system has maximum sustained winds of 150 mph.
Ida is arriving Sunday on the 16th anniversary of Hurricane Katrina’s ruinous strike on the Gulf Coast. Ida’s threat has forced emergency officials to prepare shelters for evacuees forced from their homes amid a resurgence of coronavirus infections.
The hurricane's eye was nearing Port Fourchon, where boats and helicopters gather to take workers and supplies to oil platforms in the ocean, and the oil extracted starts its journey toward refineries.