Residents across Louisiana's coast made every minute of today count to prepare for what is now being described as a "life-altering" hurricane Ida, which is expected to devastate the region when it slams ashore.
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A combination of voluntary and mandatory evacuations have been called for cities and communities across the region, including New Orleans, whose mayor ordered mandatory evacuations.
As residents battened down the hatches by sandbagging their homes, gassing up and stocking up on groceries, the storm is expected to make landfall late Sunday, and it will have reached an extremely dangerous Category 4 hurricane by the time it makes landfall west of New Orleans.
Life-altering Ida intensified rapidly on Friday from a tropical storm to a hurricane with top winds of up to 80 miles per hour as it crossed western Cuba. It is expected to strengthen when it hovers over the warm waters of the Gulf of Mexico.
Warnings of prolonged power outages from New Orleans' officials today, as they advised elderly residents to consider evacuating.
With the storm's forward speed gradually slowing down and the intensity picking up, the storm surge may cause bayous and creeks in New Orleans to overflow, and render levees that protect part of the city useless.
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