Ida weakens to a tropical depression as it moves through Mississippi

Officials in Jefferson Parish, La., confirmed that they recovered a body in the southern part of the parish on Monday. Sheriff Joseph P. Lopinto III said his deputies had recovered the body from a home in the community of Jean Lafitte, which had been inundated by Hurricane Ida’s storm surge. The sheriff said parish officials are not yet able to determine whether the death was caused by flooding in the area. If it was, it would be the third confirmed storm-related death in Louisiana since Ida made landfall just before noon on Sunday.

During a Monday evening news conference, Parish President Cynthia Lee Sheng said the community of Jean Lafitte “is underwater in ways we’ve never seen before.” Lee Sheng reported that rescuers in the parish had saved 27 people from floodwaters on Sunday and another 108 on Monday. They were planning to go out again after sunrise Tuesday to try to persuade more people to leave their flooded homes.

Meanwhile, many in the parish remained without access to water. The lack of water forced hospital officials to transfer patients from the Tulane Lakeside Hospital in Metairie to the Tulane Medical Center 15 minutes east of the facility in downtown New Orleans. Parish officials continued to advise residents who had evacuated to stay away, warning that they would not have access to functioning water, power or sewer systems for days or possibly even weeks.

Almost 800 people have been rescued in St. John the Baptist Parish, as more than 18,000 remain without power, Parish President Jaclyn Hotard said in a Monday evening news conference.

“Some were in the homes, where there were floodwaters rising,” Hotard said of those rescued. “Some people were out of the homes after the conditions had gotten better.”

Ida delivered 17 inches of rain and five feet of storm surge in the parish that’s home to nearly 43,000 people, sitting over the area for hours, Hotard told reporters.

“This is one of the worst natural disasters I’ve ever seen in St. John,” she said, noting that she and some of her colleagues have been in the area for previous natural disasters such as Hurricane Isaac. “Not even close. This is a parish-wide disaster.”

The parish is covered with fallen trees and power lines that have made many roads inaccessible, leaving officials to impose a curfew from 6 p.m. to 7 a.m., Hotard said.

Hotard, who added that she lost her car because of Ida, said the news conference was the first time she and other officials were able to access phone lines and Internet to communicate with the community.

St. John the Baptist Sheriff Michael Tregre also told reporters that Ida flooded his home and detailed some of the injuries and horror rescue teams have witnessed.

Tregre said a man was in his trailer when a large tree about 40 inches in diameter came through the man’s home and pinned his foot. Officers went over to the man’s residence to try to save him but couldn’t because his foot was pinned too badly under the tree and officers didn’t have the right equipment.

“He actually rode out the storm 12 hours underneath the tree with his foot pinned,” Tregre said. “When the weather cleared up, our teams went out there and saved him, and he’s better.”

As hundreds of thousands of residents head into day two without power in the dead of summer in New Orleans, the threat of suffering from heat-related illnesses is rising.

The city suffers from the worst heat island effect in the U.S., according to a July study by the research group Climate Central. It found New Orleans is typically nine degrees hotter than the surrounding areas — the largest heat discrepancy of any city in the United States.

“It’s quite dangerous, especially for elderly populations and also those that might have preconditions,” said Phil Bedient, an environmental engineering professor at Rice University and director of the SSPEED Center. “You start not having air conditioning or not having fans and the temperatures rise in the high 90s with massive humidity — it’s cause for concern.”

Water is still safe to drink in New Orleans, which can greatly help residents avoid heat-related illnesses, Bedient said.

The National Weather Service estimate a heat index on Tuesday of 100 degrees, and urged residents to drink water even if they don’t feel thirsty, wear loose-fitting and light colored clothing, spend time in the shade, and avoid leaving people and pets in the car.

Jim Elliott, professor of sociology at Rice University, said the nighttime temperatures play an important role in the severity of the threat. Nights that drop below around 85 degrees would allow people’s bodies to recuperate from sweltering hot days. Nights that don’t would further put them at risk of illness.

If “you’re unable to cool yourself that’s when you can have some real physiological issues, especially if you’re looking at vulnerable populations and pregnant mothers in their third trimester,” Elliott said.

He said neighborhoods where people “have a stronger voice” may get power restored first. And sometimes the larger trees that cause the most damage to electric lines are in more affluent areas as well.

Mississippi could still face serious rainfall and potentially stifling heat from Ida, Gov. Tate Reeves (R) said at a Monday news conference.

The tropical depression was roughly 15 miles northwest of Jackson on Monday afternoon, moving at about 8 mph. Sustained winds are at about 35 mph with gusts up to 40, Reeves said.

Mississippi residents can expect up to 12 inches of rain overnight; the state’s southeastern counties will also face tornado threats until midmorning Tuesday, he said.

The state has already seen more than a foot of rain along the Gulf Coast and six inches or more in the Macomb area, Reeves told reporters.

The governor warned residents that the National Weather Service could issue a heat advisory, meaning those without power would be in more danger.

About 85,900 homes and businesses were without electricity, mostly in the southwestern part of the state, a reduction from the 136,000 who had lost service earlier on Monday, Reeves said.

Power troubles have prompted four nursing homes, a facility for those with intellectual disabilities and three assisted-living centers to operate using generators, said Jim Craig, senior deputy and director of health protection for the Mississippi State Department of Health.

Five hospital facilities are getting electricity from a mix of the grid and generators.

Reeves said initial reports from eight counties have reported relatively light damage considering the magnitude of the storm.

Local and state personnel have aided in 20 water rescues in Jackson, Hancock and Harris counties, Reeves said, and the state could release some to help other states once the storm leaves.

“We are not completely out of the woods yet,” he said. “It is still a dangerous storm, and we will see significant amounts of rainfall over next 12 hours.”

The Louisiana Department of Health reported the state’s second storm-related death Monday evening.

The agency said in a statement that a man drowned after attempting to maneuver his vehicle through floodwater in New Orleans. Officials haven’t released the man’s name or age.

Ida’s first casualty was reported by Ascension Parish Sheriff’s Office on Sunday when the authorities said a person died after a tree fell on them in Prairieville, an area about 15 miles from Baton Rouge.

LAPLACE, La. — The shopping plaza parking lots that line Belle Terre Boulevard were filled with search-and-rescue teams Monday.

At one, Major Cliff Comeaux of the Wildlife and Fisheries Mobile Command Station oversaw five teams of 10 men. Their trucks were already hitched with boats as they awaited new calls for water rescues.

Wildlife And Fisheries is the primary agency handling water rescues in the aftermath of Hurricane Ida, Comeaux said. By Monday afternoon, they had rescued about 170 people in LaPlace, about 50 people in Houma and around 20 in Lafitte, Comeaux said. Comeaux suspected more calls would roll in as cellphone service becomes more available.

“We are having an extremely difficult time with communication right now,” he said. “Almost none of our radios are working, and of course cellphones are down. That’s been a bit of a hindrance to us.”

Still, the number of water rescues was better than might be expected for a storm of this size, he said. Comeaux suspected this was because floodwaters receded fairly quickly, and because many people sought higher ground early on.

“It’s a lot easier for us to get to them with our four-wheel-drive trucks than with boats,” he said. “Today is not such a water event as just people calling for help.”

Many calls were from residents who made it to dry land but who were trapped there by floodwaters, he said. Still others came from people who were unable to reach loved ones and wanted help checking on them. The command station also compiled a list of pleas for help from social media, gathering screenshots from Twitter and Facebook throughout the night and ensuring that those homes were checked first thing this morning.