Hurricane Ida is now a tropical depression as it continues to move through Mississippi, according to the National Hurricane Center’s final advisory update on the storm.
The storm system, however, will continue to produce heavy rainfall across portions of southeast Louisiana, Mississippi and Western Alabama through Tuesday, resulting in considerable flash and urban flooding and significant river flooding impacts.
After the catastrophic Category 4 storm moved over southeastern Louisiana Sunday, officials began to assess the damage brought on by the hurricane on Monday.
Entergy Louisiana reported more than 860,000 of its customers were without power Monday morning due to eight transmission lines that deliver power to New Orleans being knocked out by the storm. Though power had returned to a swath of residents in the early hours of Monday, nearly 178,000 were still in the dark by noon, according to the Entergy outage map, with no timeframe available for when it could be restored.
Officials warn residents to avoid downed power lines and not to operate generators indoors, which can result in fatal carbon monoxide.
Mandatory curfews are in place for some parishes in the wake of the storm, including St. Tammany, Lafourche and East Baton Rouge.
Here's what we know about Tropical Storm Ida as of 4 p.m. Monday.
Watches, Warnings and Weather To Expect
Forecasters said the eye of Tropical Storm Ida passed over Mississippi’s southern border around 4a.m. Monday. At 4 p.m., the depression was about 20 miles north-northwest of Jackson with maximum sustained winds of 35 mph. It continues its slow march north-northeast at 9mph.
Tropical storm and storm surge warnings are no longer in effect. Water levels along the Gulf Coast should continue to subside throughout the evening.
Heavy rainfall and flash flooding threats continue as the storm moves farther inland towards central and northeastern Mississippi. Forecasters said Central Mississippi into far western Alabama can expect 4 to 8 inches of rain with isolated maximum amounts of 12 inches through Monday night.
Hurricane Season 2021
Following a hectic hurricane season, particularly for Louisiana where five storms made landfall in 2020, meteorologists expect 2021 to be a busy year for the tropics as well.
This year's season could see between 15 to 21 named storms, 7 to 10 of those being hurricanes.
So far, names Ana, Bill, Claudette, Danny, Elsa, Fred, Grace and Henri have been used.
Unlike last year, when forecasters had to pull from the Greek alphabet after all available storm names were used up, NHC will no longer use names like Zeta or Delta. Instead, forecasters will use names from a supplemental list.
Storms are categorized per the Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Wind Scale: Tropical depression (below 38 mph), Tropical Storm (39-73 mph), Category 1 (74-95 mph), Category 2 (96-110 mph), Category 3 (111-129 mph), Category 4 (130-156 mph) and Category 5 (more than 157 mph).
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