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The three weeks of recovery and clean-up efforts in Louisiana following Hurricane Ida is being threatened by yet another storm, Tropical Depression Nicholas.
Nicholas made landfall in Texas Monday night (September 13) as a Category 1 hurricane, bringing wind gusts up to 75 mph and dumping 10 inches of rain in some areas of the state’s southeastern coast. Now, not even a month after the catastrophic impact of Hurricane Ida, Louisiana residents are bracing for yet another storm.
According to CNN, Nicholas was downgraded to a tropical depression, but is still expected to soak Louisiana with anywhere between five to 10 inches of rain. As of Tuesday night (September 14), Nicholas carried winds up to 35 mph and even higher wind gusts, weather experts said.
Some areas of Louisiana could see closer to 20 inches of rain, putting more than 6.2 million people under flash flood watches from Texas to Florida. Of those, more than 700,000 reside in the greater New Orleans area, according to the National Weather Service.
Louisiana hasn’t fully restored power to the thousands of customers, and Tropical Depression Nicholas won’t make those efforts any easier, and could set efforts back. As of early Wednesday (September 15), more than 74,000 people in the area remained without power from Ida.
Officials in New Orleans estimate Hurricane Ida caused $19 million worth of damage. The city’s communication director Beau Tidwell told CNN that the city is working to clean up extra trash left in the wake of Ida, but is only two-thirds of the way through.
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