Hurricane season is in full swing. Two storms are currently imperilling favourite travel destinations on both the Gulf and Pacific coasts.
Hurricane Ida on the Gulf Coast
On the anniversary of devastating Hurricane Katrina sixteen years previously, New Orleans was hit over the weekend by Hurricane Ida, and continues to batter Louisiana on Monday as the storm’s centre moves over the Mississippi.
One death has already been reported. The storm has knocked out power to NOLA, and dumped water on communities along the length of the Gulf coast. CBC reports the heavy rain and storm surge are already “catastrophic” and that “life-threatening” floods along rivers continue to grow as rain keeps falling. Ida is forecast to dump as much as two feet of rain on the region.
Ida’s 230 km/h winds put it in 5th place for the strongest-ever hurricane to strike the U.S. mainland.
Louisiana’s Gov. John Bel Edwards asked residents still at home to shelter in place. Emergency services and social media lit up with calls begging for water rescues. As Ida continued to blast the region, the governor warned that rescue crews would not be able to immediately help those stranded. He also warned Louisiana to be prepared for “potentially weeks” of recovery.
Hurricane Nora on Mexico’s Pacific Coast
Meanwhile Hurricane Nora has already killed at least one person in Puerto Vallarta before being downgraded on the weekend from a Category 1 hurricane to a tropical storm on Mexico’s Pacific coast.
According to Reuters, the body of a child was recovered from a hotel that had partially collapsed due to a nearby river overflowing its banks. The governor of Jalisco, Enrique Alfaro, released the information on social media, but it was not yet clear if a second missing person has been located.
Flooding, downed trees, damaged roads and severed power lines followed the path of Nora northwest across several states.
The downgraded storm is reportedly now moving more slowly, with the centre moving into the southern portions of the Gulf of California.
Nonetheless, Reuters reports Nora will continue to dump heavy rain along the country’s west coast, and could also cause “life-threatening flash flooding and mud slides, as well as storm surge and large waves.”
Just last week, Hurricane Grace swept through Veracruz, killing eight people on Mexico’s Gulf Coast.
