Month: August 2021

By WRAL Weather Team and KEVIN MCGILL and JAY REEVES, Associated Press NEW ORLEANS — Hurricane Ida was rapidly intensifying early Sunday, becoming a dangerous Category 4 hurricane on track for a potentially devastating landfall on the Louisiana coast while emergency officials in the region grappled with opening shelters for displaced evacuees despite the risks of spreading the coronavirus. Ida quickly gained strength as it moved into the northern Gulf, with top winds of 150…

By WRAL Weather Team and KEVIN MCGILL and JAY REEVES, Associated Press NEW ORLEANS — Hurricane Ida was rapidly intensifying early Sunday, becoming a dangerous Category 4 hurricane on track for a potentially devastating landfall on the Louisiana coast while emergency officials in the region grappled with opening shelters for displaced evacuees despite the risks of spreading the coronavirus. Ida quickly gained strength as it moved into the northern Gulf, with top winds of 150…

By KEVIN MCGILL and JAY REEVES, Associated Press and WRAL Severe Weather Center NEW ORLEANS — Hurricane Ida was rapidly intensifying early Sunday, becoming a dangerous Category 4 hurricane on track for a potentially devastating landfall on the Louisiana coast while emergency officials in the region grappled with opening shelters for displaced evacuees despite the risks of spreading the coronavirus. Ida quickly gained strength as it moved into the northern Gulf, going from top winds…

Hurricane Ida is looking eerily like a dangerous sequel to 2005’s Hurricane Katrina, the costliest storm in American history. But there’s a few still-to-come twists that could make Ida nastier in some ways, but not quite as horrific in others. Ida is forecast to make landfall on the same calendar date, August 29, as Katrina did 16 years ago, striking the same general part of Louisiana with about the same wind speed, after rapidly strengthening…

Several local Red Cross volunteers left North Carolina over the weekend to provide disaster relief to southeast Louisiana ahead of Hurricane Ida’s life-threatening landfall. Right now, volunteers are on the ground in Baton Rouge, Louisiana preparing for Hurricane Ida’s arrival and aftermath. On Saturday, North Carolina’s Red Cross joined the effort. Volunteers: Daryl Steinbraker, Gene Pavone and Mike Thompson left Wilmington Saturday morning. They are some of the 30 volunteers from our state-assisting local volunteers….