Almost 800 rescued in St. John the Baptist Parish after Hurricane Ida

At least three people have died as a result of the storm.

ByJulia Jacobo, Emily Shapiro, Ivan Pereira, Morgan Winsor, and Bill Hutchinson
Last Updated: August 31, 2021, 8:36 AM EDT

Ida is barreling through Louisiana after making landfall in the state as a powerful Category 4 hurricane on Sunday afternoon.

It was one of the strongest hurricanes on record -- by both wind speed and pressure -- to roar ashore in Louisiana.

Ida, now a tropical storm, is hitting on the 16-year anniversary of Katrina, a Category 3 hurricane that ravaged the Gulf Coast. Hurricane Katrina unleashed a series of events, taking the lives of more than 1,800 people and leaving more than $100 billion worth of damage in its wake.

Latest headlines:

Here are the latest developments. All times Eastern.
Aug 29, 2021, 4:13 PM EDT

Storm damage 'every bit as bad as Katrina': Louisiana lieutenant governor

Louisiana Lt. Gov. Billy Nunguesser spoke with ABC News about the damage to the state and said it looked like it was going to be rough for the southern end.

“I believe it’s gonna be every bit as bad as Katrina," he told ABC News.

Nunguesser said flooding is already cataclysmic, and the levees near Myrtle Grove and other places were either breached or topped by water.

The lieutenant governor said he was especially concerned about Plaquemines Parish, which has oil and gas related infrastructure.

Nunguesser said he has heard reports of a giant floating platform on which oil workers live coming unmoored and floating somewhere in Barataria Bay.

-ABC News' Matt Gutman

Aug 29, 2021, 4:09 PM EDT

Biden promises country's 'full might behind the rescue and recovery'

President Biden spoke about the latest updates from FEMA headquarters in Washington, D.C., and promised he was going to "put the country's full might behind the rescue and recovery."

President Joe Biden speaks at the National Response Coordination Center at FEMA headquarters, Aug. 29, 2021, in Washington.
Manuel Balce Ceneta/AP

Biden said the agency has already prepositioned resources to the states most impacted by Ida including 2.5 million meals, 3 million liters of water and generators.

He urged residents in Mississippi and Louisiana to heed the warnings by their local leaders.

"Take it seriously, really...seriously," the president said.

Aug 29, 2021, 3:43 PM EDT

Nearly 320,000 customers are without power in Louisiana as Hurricane Ida moves through the state, according to poweroutage.us.

-ABC News' Will McDuffie

Aug 29, 2021, 3:38 PM EDT

Residents who defied evacuation orders called to be rescued: Officials

Some of the 40 people who defied mandatory evacuation orders in Grand Isle, Louisiana, called to be rescued as Hurricane Ida made landfall, officials said.

No one was able to go rescue them, Jefferson County Parish President Cynthia Lee Sheng told reporters at a news conference Sunday afternoon.

"We're getting requests for rescue, but I do not know the status of those people, and I don't know if even [the first responders on the island] know the status of those people," she said. The number of calls emergency dispatchers received was not specified.

The 40 people who remained in the town are a mix of residents and first responders who are hunkering down during Ida.

The lone road into Grand Isle was flooded by 6 feet of water, Sheng said. 

"The conditions are very, very bad right now in Grand Isle," Sheng said. "They are really getting beaten up right at this moment."

-ABC News’ Will McDuffie

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