The one thing Debbie Russel of LaPlace, Louisiana , remembers about Hurricane Ida is the wind—“It was unreal.”
“The wind was so strong,” she …
The one thing Debbie Russel of LaPlace, Louisiana, remembers about Hurricane Ida is the wind—“It was unreal.” “The wind was so strong,” she said. “We just got in the hall and prayed. I had my hands over my ears—the wind.” With gusts blasting in at 150 miles per hour, the Category 4 storm made landfall on Aug.29, knocking down trees and utility poles, ripping roofs off buildings, flooding basements, and leaving more than 1 million residents throughout Louisiana without power. The storm has been downgraded to a tropical depression on Aug.31, and is expected to weaken as it moves further inland, according to the National Weather Service. Russel said none of her neighbors currently has running water, which had to be turned off because of sewage backup. “If we could just get water back, that would be a big help,” Russel told The Epoch Times. After witnessing other major hurricanes over the past 25 years, Russel can attest to the power of the weather—and water. “Water is very powerful. I mean, it can just wipe you out,” she said. Across the road, workers were cutting up and removing a tree that went through the roof of another house. The owners had evacuated, and haven’t seen the damage firsthand yet. Hurricane Ida is “the worst I’ve seen—worse than Katrina, damage-wise” said Ferrel Bailey,78, who owns a shrimp shop.
