Timelapse video shows Hurricane Ida flooding Louisiana roads in under an hour
DELACROIX, La. - Louisiana’s St. Bernand Parish released video Sunday showing how quickly a local fire station and the surrounding roads flooded as Hurricane Ida roared onshore.
Security footage from the fire station captured the time-lapse video, showing just how swift and intense the rainfall has been in the area.
"Before and after security camera footage from Fire Station #12 in Delacroix within a 1 hour time span," the parish posted on Twitter.
Hurricane Ida blasted ashore Sunday as one of the most powerful storms ever to hit the U.S., rushing from the Louisiana coast toward New Orleans and one of the nation’s most important industrial corridors.
RELATED: Hurricane Ida hits Louisiana as one of most powerful hurricanes to strike US
The Category 4 storm with winds of 150 mph hit on the same date Hurricane Katrina ravaged Louisiana and Mississippi 16 years earlier, coming ashore about 45 miles west of where Category 3 Katrina first struck land.
People in Louisiana woke up to a monster storm after Ida’s top winds grew by 45 mph in five hours as the hurricane moved through some of the warmest ocean water in the world in the northern Gulf of Mexico.
Wind tore at awnings and water spilled out of Lake Ponchartrain in New Orleans before noon Sunday. Officials said Ida’s swift intensification from a few thunderstorms to a massive hurricane in just three days left no time to organize a mandatory evacuation of the city’s 390,000 residents. Mayor LaToya Cantrell urged residents to leave voluntarily. Those who stayed were warned to prepare for long power outages amid sweltering heat.
Ida’s 150-mph winds tied it for the fifth-strongest hurricane to ever hit the mainland U.S.
Those winds whipped through 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. The port handles about a fifth of the nation’s domestic oil and gas, officials said.
RELATED: Flight crews release stunning video showing eye of Hurricane Ida
Forecasters warned winds stronger than 115 mph were expected in Houma, a city of 33,000 that supports oil platforms in the Gulf.
President Joe Biden approved emergency declarations for Louisiana and Mississippi ahead of Ida’s arrival. He said Sunday the country was praying for the best for Louisiana and preparing for the worst.
"As soon as the storm passes we’re going to put the country’s full might behind the rescue and recovery," Biden said.
The Associated Press contributed to this report. This story was reported from Los Angeles.