Hurricane Ida ‘will be one of worst storms to hit Louisiana in 170 years’ and is set to arrive within hours
Hurricane Ida could be one of the worst storms to hit Louisiana in 170 years and is expected to make landfall in the next few hours.
The “extremely life-threatening” surge is set to trigger devastating flash flooding in Mississippi, Alabama and Louisiana when it arrives later on Sunday – the 16th anniversary of Hurricane Katrina.
Ida has been graded as category four – capable of causing “catastrophic” damage and leaving the area uninhabitable for months.
A satellite image of Hurricane Ida which is expected to hit Louisiana on Sunday Pic: NOAA via AP
Ida quickly gained strength as it moved into the northern Gulf, going from top winds of 115mph in a 1am update to 145mph a few hours later.
John Bel Edwards, governor of Louisiana, said: “This will be one of the strongest hurricanes to hit anywhere in Louisiana since at least the 1850s.”
New Orleans in Louisiana will bear the brunt of the storm, after already being ravaged by Hurricane Katrina which made landfall on 29 August 2005.
Katrina, which killed more than 1,800 people, was graded category three when it arrived.
Thousands of residents and visitors are desperately trying to flee New Orleans before the storm makes landfall, with traffic gridlocked on the Interstate 10 route out of the city.
Hundreds in the area have been pictured boarding up windows and gathering sandbags as the storm edges closer.
It comes amid warnings about another severe weather system, Hurricane Nora, which is travelling northward up Mexico’s Pacific Coast towards the narrow Gulf of California.
Ida (right) is due to hit as Nora (lower left) travels northward up Mexico’s Pacific Coast (Pic NOAA via AP)
“There is a danger of a life-threatening storm surge inundation Sunday along the coasts of Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama within the storm surge warning area,” the National Hurricane Centre (NHC) said in a key advisory message issued around 10pm local time on Saturday.
“Extremely life-threatening inundation of 9 feet or greater above ground level is possible somewhere within the area from Morgan City, Louisiana, to the coast of Mississippi.”
And the NHC warned local levees – built to stop rivers overflowing – could succumb to Ida’s rapidly-increasing intensity.
Officials warned the storm will be “life-altering” for those who have not taken precautions – as President Joe Biden urged people to “be prepared”.
Traffic has ground to a halt on the Interstate 10 out of New Orleans as people flee. Pic: AP
President Biden met with the NHC and Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) to discuss the course of action on Saturday.
More than a dozen search and rescue teams have been assigned to help people unable to leave.
Meanwhile more than 100 ambulances and 20 air ambulances have been deployed to support evacuations of nursing homes in the path of the storm.
The Coast Guard has also positioned vehicles for deep water search and rescue missions, while efforts are being made to source hundreds of generators amid fears about widespread power outages which could last months.
Tweeting from the @POTUS account, President Biden said: “Today I was briefed on our preparations for Hurricane Ida by @FEMA.
“We have deployed emergency response personnel and pre-positioned food, water, generators and supplies to make sure we’re ready to respond.
“If you are in Ida’s path, please pay attention and be prepared.”
A 16-year-old suspect armed with a rifle has been stopped from entering a church full of children by worshippers during a livestreamed service, say authorities in Louisiana.
The boy tried to get into the St Mary Magdalen Church, in Abbeville, through the back door at around 10.30am on Saturday (4.30pm UK time), according to police.
A livestream of the incident that was seen by Sky News’ partner outlet NBC News showed a man approaching Reverend Nicholas DuPre after 48 minutes to whisper something.
Rev DuPre then stopped the service and asked churchgoers to pray with him, while some people were heard panicking and screaming.
Around 60 children were inside and waiting to take their first Holy Communion when worshippers confronted the armed suspect.
The Louisiana Catholic church said they then took him outside before calling the police.
Keep up with all the latest news from the UK and around the world by following Sky News
On the livestream, police officers could seen walking through the church, as boys ran across the altar and the clergy took shelter, NBC News reported.
Someone was heard to say over a loudspeaker: “Guys, just get ahold of your children, go slowly. We did apprehend a child, he is in custody.”
In a statement, Abbeville Police Department said that upon arrival, officers arrested the suspect and then searched the church.
The force added the teenager was charged with terrorising the church and two counts of possession of a firearm by a juvenile.
Witnesses told TV station KADN that he was dressed all in black and armed with the rifle, NBC News reported.
Police chief Mike Hardy thanked the churchgoers who intervened for their “quick response and remaining calm throughout this matter”.
Read more on Sky News:
Star witness at Trump trial gives evidence
Hollywood actor punched in New York City
RFK Jr says worm ate part of his brain
The church also said it now plans to have uniformed law enforcement officers outside of its masses “out of an abundance of caution”.
The swimmer who was the first victim in the 1975 blockbuster Jaws has died.
Susan Backlinie died in her home in California at the age of 77, according to her agent. Her death was first reported by The Daily Jaws website.
The opening scene of Steven Spielberg‘s classic features Ms Backlinie running along the beach and before diving into the water and skinny dipping.
The poster for the film Jaws. Pic: HA/THA/Shutterstock
Her character Chrissie Watkins is then suddenly pulled under the water and she screams as she is violently attacked by an unseen great white shark.
Ms Backlinie had been a champion swimmer when cast in the film. She told The Palm Beach Post in 2015 that Spielberg told her: “When your scene is done, I want everyone under the seats with the popcorn and bubblegum.
“I think we did that,” she said.
In the documentary, Jaws: The Inside Story, Spielberg called Ms Backlinie’s sequence “one of the most dangerous” stunts he’s ever directed.
“She was actually being tugged left and right by 10 men on one rope and 10 men on the other back to the shore, and that’s what caused her to move like that.”
Keep up with all the latest news from the UK and around the world by following Sky News
Ms Backlinie worked with Mr Spielberg again in the 1979 parody war film 1941, in which she spoofed her Jaws character.
The first person to have a pig kidney transplant has died nearly two months after the procedure.
Richard “Rick” Slayman, 62, underwent the four-hour transplant at a hospital in Boston in March.
It marked the first time a genetically modified pig kidney was transplanted into a living patient. Surgeons said they believed the organ would last for at least two years.
Slayman’s family announced his death yesterday, thanking the doctors who carried out the world-first surgery for their “enormous efforts”.
They said the animal-to-human transplant – known as a xenotransplant – gave them “seven more weeks with Rick, and our memories made during that time will remain in our minds and hearts”.
Rick Slayman in his hospital room in March. Pic: Michelle Rose/Massachusetts General Hospital Hospital
The transplant team at Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) said they did not have any indication he died as a result of the transplant.
Slayman, from Weymouth, Massachusetts, previously had a kidney transplant at MGH in 2018, but had to go back on dialysis last year after it showed signs of failure.
As he needed frequent procedures as a result of dialysis complications, his doctors suggested a pig kidney transplant.
His family said Slayman wanted to undergo the procedure to give hope to those on waiting lists for transplants, adding: “Rick accomplished that goal and his hope and optimism will endure forever.”
Read more on Sky News:
Switzerland wins as chaos engulfs Eurovision
Thunderstorms to put end to sunshine
‘Eunuch maker’ who castrated victims jailed
Pic: Michelle Rose/Massachusetts General Hospital
Pig kidneys had previously been transplanted into brain-dead donors, but only temporarily. Two men have also received hearts from pigs, with both dying within months of their prodecures.
A month after Slayman’s transplant, New Jersey’s Lisa Pisano became the second person in the world to undergo a pig kidney transplant, and the first to have surgery while also having a mechanical heart pump surgically implanted.
The 54-year-old said she “took a chance” after suffering heart and kidney failure, which left her too ill to qualify for a traditional transplant.
Keep up with all the latest news from the UK and around the world by following Sky News
More than 100,000 people are on the transplant waiting list in the US – most need a kidney, but thousands die waiting.
In the UK, the NHS said that in the year to March last year, there were 6,959 patients waiting for an organ transplant.
It said 439 patients died while on the active list waiting for it and a further 732 were removed from the transplant list, “mostly as a result of deteriorating health and ineligibility for transplant”.
-
Sports2 years ago‘Storybook stuff’: Inside the night Bryce Harper sent the Phillies to the World Series
-
Sports1 year agoMLB Rank 2023: Ranking baseball’s top 100 players
-
Environment12 months agoJapan and South Korea have a lot at stake in a free and open South China Sea
-
Sports1 month agoStory injured on diving stop, exits Red Sox game
-
Sports7 months agoGame 1 of WS least-watched in recorded history
-
Sports3 years ago
Team Europe easily wins 4th straight Laver Cup
-
Environment1 year agoGame-changing Lectric XPedition launched as affordable electric cargo bike
-
Environment1 year agoTesla advances Powerwall pilot project with German electric company