KATC's Chief Meteorologist Rob Perillo is giving Acadiana a window to the destruction caused by Hurricane Ida. To survey the aftermath, he drove down Highway 90 East of Morgan City to Schriever and Thibodaux, witnessing damage indicating wind gusts in the range of 100-120 mph.
Rob stresses that his assessment was taken from a vehicle, in between a healthy scattering of showers and storms, meaning the damage reported could have been caused by winds with higher gusts than assessed.
He continued down Highway 1 through Raceland where damage increased dramatically into Mathews and Lockport with estimated wind gusts along the road in the 115-125 mph range. From Lockport to LaRose, Ida's mark was consistent with gusts in the 120-135 mph range. Even worse was the impacts from Cut Off to Galliano where these towns and others to the south were decimated as gusts looked to be pushing 135-140 mph in spots. From Galliano, Golden Meadow to Port Fourchon, the impact was consistent with gusts as high as 140-150 mph. Rob says it was too dangerous to venture off the roads in Lafourche as of Sunday and there was no access to the port or Grand Isle, where he imagines the full wrath of Ida was realized.
The pictures are in sequential order down Highway 1 to Fourchon and then a few shots back northwestward. As the pictures show, the trail of devastation left by Ida is widespread with many homes roofless and would be considered uninhabitable, yet the resilient folks there are toughing it out.
Rob says, "The suffering I witnessed is unimaginable, where you could see the shock, angst and realization that despite best their best efforts a week from the storm, that a large percentage of homes were total losses."
In this story are just a few photos from Rob's trip. To see all the photos, click the post pinned to the top of Rob's Facebook page, linked here.
