Ida weakens as rescues begin and damage checked in Louisiana

NEW ORLEANS (AP) — Ida is now a tropical storm after spending 16 hours as a hurricane over Louisiana and Mississippi. Residents are now waiting for daybreak for rescues from flooded areas to begin and damage to be assessed. Power remains out for the entire city of New Orleans, taking down the backup system for the city’s pumps. Ida’s storm surge pushed so much water into the mouth of the Mississippi that it reversed the flow of the mighty river. The hurricane made landfall exactly 16 years to the day after Hurricane Katrina ravaged Louisiana and Mississippi. Its 150-mph winds tied it for the fifth-strongest hurricane to ever hit the mainland.