Hurricane Ida Slams Native Communities in Louisiana as New Orleans Loses Electricity and COVID Rages

Hurricane Ida has completely knocked out power to the city of New Orleans and reversed the flow of the Mississippi River after it hit southern Louisiana and Mississippi, flooding the area with storm surges. The Category 4 storm hit on the same date Hurricane Katrina devastated the area 16 years earlier.

"This is a storm like no other," says Monique Verdin, a citizen of the United Houma Nation and part of the grassroots collaborative Another Gulf Is Possible. "This is a part of South Louisiana that is losing land at one of the fastest rates," Verdin notes. She also discusses how the storm hit the area as "Delta has been raging in the Mississippi River Delta."