Quote:Aug 28 (Reuters) - Hurricane Ida on Saturday intensified over warm Gulf of Mexico waters, prompting tens of thousands to flee coastal areas, while President Joe Biden pledged aid to help states quickly recover once the storm has passed.

Forecasters said Ida could make a U.S. landfall on Sunday as an "extremely dangerous" Category 4 storm on the five-step Saffir-Simpson scale, generating winds of 140 miles per hour (225 kph), heavy downpours and a tidal surge that could plunge much of the Louisiana shoreline under several feet of water

Quote:generating winds of 140 miles per hour (225 kph)

Quote:Hurricane Ida made landfall near Port Fourchon, Louisiana, early Sunday afternoon as an extremely dangerous, Category 4 hurricane with winds of 150 mph, the National Hurricane Center said.
Ida, striking on the 16th anniversary of the historically devastating Hurricane Katrina, tied as the state's most powerful storm ever with Laura from last year and the Last Island Hurricane of 1856.

Landfall is when the eye is halfway over the coast. Extreme winds and surge will accompany the 1 p.m. ET landfall over the next several hours.
Ida became a Category 4 storm early Sunday morning, rapidly intensifying to sustained winds of 150 mph, according to the National Hurricane Center.

By Sunday afternoon, Hurricane Ida has left more than 285,000 customers without power in Louisiana, according to poweroutage.us. And Energy Louisiana said some of its customers could be without power for weeks.