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Hurricane Ida Pounds Louisiana; 400,000Louisiana Residents with No Power; Hurricane Ida Considered As Life-Threatening Storm. Aired 5- 6p ET

Aired August 29, 2021 - 17:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

[17:00:00]

JIM ACOSTA, CNN HOST: We're talking about winds of 145 miles per hour, life threatening storm surge and torrential rain. There is extensive flooding in some areas already. You're seeing Grand Isle, Louisiana, that is just for starters.

This all happening 16 years to the day that Hurricane Katrina made landfall in the state of Louisiana. Statewide, more than 400,000 customers, we're now up to 400,000 customers without power. That number expected to keep rising as the storm moves inland.

Ida is now tied with Hurricane Laura as the strongest storm ever to hit Louisiana. We're tracking this from every angle with our team of reporters. They are out there in the elements as we speak. Let's begin with CNN's Jason Carroll live in Houma, Louisiana. Jason, it just gets worse and worse where you are there in Houma, Louisiana. You are just getting pounded right now. What's the latest?

JASON CARROLL, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes. And I just wanted to confirm something because you were talking about the wind gust out here which we've been experiencing. Checked in with our weather department here just to confirm before I said I, but we've been experiencing wind gusts topping 100 miles per hour out there, not right here where I'm standing because we've moved back next to a solid brick structure, Jim, just to give us a barrier from the brunt of what is happening out here.

You can look out there and you can gauge for your own eyes what we have been experiencing as the eye wall descends upon Houma. The wind literally takes your breath away as it howls through here, taking with it trees, power lines, damaging structures in the area as well.

We've been hearing from emergency officials who say that's what they've been receiving so far in terms of their assessments of the damage. But hard to make it out there because you can only see so far because of all of this wind and rain that is barreling down on us at this moment.

Again, the eye wall right now barreling down on Houma. After this, there should be a break. A much-needed break. And then we have the back end of the storm as well. So Houma is in the thick of it. When I checked in with emergency officials, I was asking them, I said, what is your plan of action when something like this happens, when you have a Category 4 storm descending upon you?

And basically what the sheriff told me is he says, what you have to do is you have to let Mother Nature, at this point, take its course. And then after that happens, you wait and see what you can do. It is his belief that as much as 60 to 80 percent of the people who live in Houma heeded the evacuation warnings.

They knew this was coming and got out, but there are still a number of people who are here who are hunkering down. And the prayers and thoughts are with those people right now. But, Jim, the experience of being out here is similar to what I experienced when I covered Hurricane Rita and Wilma. Those were Category 5 hurricanes.

When you're standing out here, the wind is so intense that it literally nearly takes your breath away. I know I said that before, but it really does. It can knock you off of your feet if you're not steady. And that's what it felt like during a Category 5.

Again, this is a Category 4, but it feels the same. It has that type of intensity when you're out here. I know that you had asked earlier if we had seen any looky-loos, any people sort of wandering about. Nothing. It is a ghost town say for what Mother Nature is doing to Houma right now. Again, we were at one point on the other side of this brick structure.

But at that point, at that point, a tree became uprooted so we moved to this section over here where we thought it would be a little bit better. Again, as bad as it looks right now, and it is bad, I have a brick structure to my left which is blocking the brunt of what is happening out here. Jim?

ACOSTA: And Jason, one of the things that I'm getting concerned about as I'm watching you, first of all, we're seeing that stop sign flap in the wind behind you. I want to caution our viewers that is not right behind Jason's head. Its several feet behind Jason's head.

But we can see these conditions deteriorate as we've been coming to you throughout the afternoon. But Jason, one of the things I'm concerned about is it seems as though this eye is taking its time to move over Houma. You have not seen it yet, correct? Are you getting the sense that this storm is kind of parked over your area?

CARROLL: I get the sense that it's barreling down on us and it is -- and it feels like it's parked over our area. We'll have to check with our (inaudible) folks in -- the meteorology folks back there in our weather center to determine exactly where the eye wall is.

But when you're out here, it certainly feels like it's just sort of barreling down on you and stuck here. But from what we've been hearing, the storm from our emergency officials, they feel like it has been steadily moving through, but leaving a lot of destruction, downed trees, power lines, damage to buildings in its wake.

[17:05:05]

ACOSTA: All right, Jason. As we're watching the storm on the left side of the screen, on the radar, it does look like the eye may be moving just to the east of where you are in Houma, Jason. And maybe going right past where you are. That might be some bit of good news for Houma, but it just looks like that area where you're at right now, Jason, is just getting hammered.

We're going to let you get safe. We'll come back to you in just a little bit. Thanks so much for that reporting and to your photographer. Right now in New Orleans we've seen this intensity of the storm pick up dramatically in the past couple of hours. Besides the wind damage, flooding is also a major concern with Ida that is expected to dump as much as 20 inches of rain on a city that's already enduring its second wettest year on record. Brian Todd is there. Brian, we can see that rain coming down where you are right now.

BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Jim, the dynamic keeps changing every hour. You now, one hour it will be just pelting wind, really high wind that whips us around where we are. This hour it's a lot of rain. Just volumes and volumes of rain. We're going to come out here on Bourbon Street, look down Bourbon Street and show you the volume of rain you can see.

Wind isn't so much of an issue right now at this hour, but it will be as the storm keeps barreling down. You've got water just streaming off these rooftops. Debris all over the place here on Bourbon Street. And here's another danger over here that I can show you. This construction site was kind of left here.

This fence just blew down. You got a lot of debris here that can fly around in heavy winds. We're going to keep an eye on all that because that's a danger. The street corner where we were last hour, as you saw, there was a lot of debris flying down there. But if you look down here, look at all these 2x4s, the wood and some of the pieces from the construction site just kind of left here. This is going to be a real danger as the wind keeps coming back.

And then we're going to show you down this street here. Take a look. Now, this street could get flooded soon. We just spoke with officials with the Southeast Louisiana Flood Protection Authority. I've been speaking with them for most of the day today. What they tell us is that, yes, they're concerned about this area of flooding, 15 to 20 inches of rain breaking all sorts of records here at New Orleans. That's going to be a problem.

But as far as the storm surge, they think that this system is going to hold because it's a much different system than it was when Hurricane Katrina came here 16 years ago. They told me that fortification of flood gates, surge gates and levees has been really bolstered. The levees are higher than they've ever been.

They're armored. The surge gate and flood gates have been closed now but those have also been fortified over the past 16 years. They're confident that that's going to hold and the storm surge will not be an issue. That surge, of course, you know, broke the levees and flooded the lower ninth ward of New Orleans in 2005.

We were told -- we're told now that this is pretty much the most technologically advanced flood protection system in the world now, in the world. So, as far as flooding this section of New Orleans with levees over topping and levees failing, they are not so much worried about that.

They are of course worried about what we're experiencing here now. The volume of this rain and the record-breaking nature of the rain. New Orleans averages 62 inches of rain per year. It's already gotten 65 inches even just before this storm. So, this is really going to just, you know, could -- it could flood some of these streets, really saturate a part of this (inaudible) that's already been saturated for the last several weeks.

We've also talked to local officials who have warned us about people using generators in this weather as they lose power. You talk about 400,000-some residents without power now in the state of Louisiana. That number, of course, building. Officials say that last year when Hurricane Laura hit Louisiana, they had 25 deaths.

Out of those 25 deaths, 9 of them were people who died of carbon monoxide poisoning because they didn't use their generators properly. That's why they are warning people. If you're going to use those generators, don't bring them inside. Keep them outside. Keep them in a safe distance if you have to use those generators. Right now, as you can see, this part of New Orleans has not lost power yet, but they're bracing for that as well, Jim.

ACOSTA: All right, Brian Todd. We still see some folks out there driving around out there. Not a good idea. Brian Todd, you stay safe as well. Thanks so much for that report. Let's go now to Jennifer Gray who is tracking Ida in the CNN Weather Center.

Jennifer, we were talking to Jason Carroll a short while ago. They were -- he and Derek Van Dam were sort of anticipating that maybe that eye might pass over Houma, Louisiana. But now it appears to be tracking to the east of Houma and sort of heading in between Houma and maybe New Orleans to the north. Does this mean that it's maybe moving towards New Orleans? What's the latest? What can you tell us?

JENNIFER GRAY, CNN METEOROLOGIST: I think it's just shifting more to the north. It's moving a more of a northerly direction. I don't think Jason and Derek will actually get the eye which basically mean they're just going to be ripped by this eye wall and never actually get in that calm portion of the storm.

[17:10:06]

So they are going to definitely get the brunt of the storm and have been for the last several hours and will continue until this storm finally gets north of them and pulls away. But you're right, the center of the storm, the eye of the storm is definitely staying to the east of Houma.

If this storm continues on more of a northerly track and that's what it's looking like at the moment, it will end up a little bit closer to New Orleans than what we previously thought. New Orleans is now under a flash flood warning, as well as Houma. So, we are going to continue to get winds, though, of 100-plus miles per hour in Houma.

Already getting hurricane force winds in New Orleans and as this storm inches further to the north, those winds are only going to increase for New Orleans until the storm starts to pull away finally. Also, the storm surge, you can see the rotation of the storm continuing to push water onshore.

We're going to see 10, 12 feet of storm surge and that is still happening and will continue to happen, this push of water onshore for the next several hours. So, the storm is still a Category 4 with winds of 130 miles per hour, 160-mile per hour gusts. And as this storm inches farther to the north, we'll continue to see that extreme wind warning.

Basically, treat this as a tornado warning. A long lived (ph) tornado warning because the winds are just as strong as a tornado. Meaning, get to the interior section of your house away from windows. We've seen in our live shots the trees just flying down the street. That can go through your window. So you want to make sure you're away from windows and you're in a very safe place inside your home.

Here's the wide shot you can see. This is going to be a little bit farther reaching of than Louisiana. We're talking about Mississippi coast, Alabama coast getting that storm surge. That water inundation especially along the coastal regions. So we could see the water rise six, eight feet, 10 feet in some locations, especially right around the center of that storm.

This is what we've seen so far. The highest storm surge amounts that's what's been observed. Shell Beach, almost 7-1/2 feet, almost 8 feet right there. So the next couple of hours those numbers will continue to rise. Here are the latest wind gusts. A lot of these areas aren't reporting. They have lost a lot of anemometers so we're not getting wind recordings from some of these locations.

But Port Fourchon, 163 mile per hour wind. Grand Isle, almost 150 until the gauge broke so we don't have accurate numbers there, most likely was much stronger. So this is going to be catastrophic for not only these towns in south Louisiana.

But as this storm hangs on to its strength and intensity like it has, as it moves inland, we'll continue to get major storm damage, Category 3 even, is what it most likely will be overnight, pushing well inland, Louisiana into Mississippi. You're going to get Category 2, Category 3 storm damage in those regions. Very, very far inland, Jim.

ACOSTA: And Jennifer, a couple of questions. One is the false sense of security that people can get when that eye wall or when that eye passes over them. People might be tempted to go outside if you can talk about the dangers of that. And then also, I'm just thinking about the time here that this storm made landfall somewhere between 11:00 and 12:00, if I'm not mistaken. This has been going on for five hours.

I know with some hurricanes, they will move through a lot more quickly than that. And this just seems to be sort of hunkering down and staying parked over this part of Louisiana. That would tell me that there's going to be some significant damage, perhaps well into the evening hours as well.

GRAY: Oh, you're right. The storm is moving at a snail's pace. Very, very slowly. When you talk about winds in excess of 100 miles per hour over the same area for hours on end, that's going to be catastrophic damage. The storm is weakening very, very, very slowly.

So as we get into the overnight hours, as the storm pulls to the north, we'll continue to get winds, at least hurricane force, during the overnight hours. Most likely 80, 90-mile per hour winds as the storm moves to the north.

So, it is going to be incredibly dangerous for the folks far inland with this storm. And as you mentioned, the eye, you want to be very, very careful. Once the eye passes, a lot of people want to get outside, take pictures. They think it's very cool. You have no warning whatsoever when the back side of that eye wall comes at you.

And so anything that's resting on the ground will be picked up as a possible projectile and it could definitely injure you. The storm should pick up speed though as we get into the overnight hours and tomorrow, Jim. So, like it's moving very, very slowly now. It should start to pick up some momentum in the next 12 hours and start moving a little bit quicker.

[17:15:03]

ACOSTA: Yes. We certainly need that to happen. But it seems like it's going to be a desperate night for a lot of people --

GRAY: It will.

ACOSTA: -- in that part of Louisiana and just very, very devastating. Don't think if it's dark outside that you can go outside and start looking around because you can't see the trees moving around in the wind anymore.

GRAY: Right.

ACOSTA: It's still very, very dangerous out there. All right, Jennifer Gray, thanks so much.

Now let me bring in the former commander of Joint Task Force of Katrina, retired Lieutenant General Russell Honore. General Honore, Hurricane Ida is tied for the most powerful storm to ever hit Louisiana. For context, Katrina is not in that top tier exactly 16 years since Katrina, though.

What do you think? Is this region better prepared to handle this historic storm? And just to get -- I just want to get your general sense of what we're seeing so far. You've seen so many of these hurricanes come ashore. What are the characteristics of this hurricane that you're looking at as Ida just pummels Louisiana right now?

RUSSEL HONORE, RETIRED U.S. ARMY: Yes, I think the biggest -- one of the big difference -- Katrina was a wider storm, if I might use that term, of with hurricane force winds, 200 miles to each side of the eye of the storm. This one, thank god, while it is stronger, it has a smaller circumference to it.

That being said, it's going through -- it went through the oil patch, and it went through the oil production in Port Fourchon. And that could be significant to national infrastructure because some 15 percent of our fuel come from there in Port Fourchon. And it went through the oil patch.

The next thing it's going to hit, Jim, as it continues to move in this direction, it's going to head into the chemical corridor or what we call cancer alley here between New Orleans and Baton Rouge with 150 chemical plants that are right next door to each other. We have not seen a wind of that nature go through that industrial complex before and it's going to disrupt the port of New Orleans.

You know, on any given day, 50 percent of the barges in the United States are in the port of New Orleans and so in Mississippi river, in Louisiana. It's going to have a major disruption to our industrial base because we are the largest ton producer as far as shipping stuff out.

So it's going to have major disruption to our infrastructure with these level winds when they take power out and the ability to get those plants back online and the amount of homes and businesses that could be destroyed not just damaged, but destroyed with this level of wind.

We did not get this level of wind in Katrina. We got the water when the levee broke and flooded the city of New Orleans. Most of the wind damage happened over in Mississippi from Katrina and we know what that looks like as it leveled subdivisions and the 28-foot wall of surge water that went into Mississippi. And New Orleans had the 18-foot surge.

So this could -- we could have equal surge here from this storm. That being said, no two storms are alike, but on any given day, (inaudible) they can break anything that is built by man. So, we got to just wait and see and people need to listen to their local officials, Jim.

ACOSTA: And as we're looking at these live pictures or recent pictures that have come into us here on CNN of Houma, Louisiana, they are just getting devastated there right now. What do you think about the duration of this storm so far and the intensity of this storm? This has just been going on all day long it seems there in Louisiana. That indicates to me that we're going to see some very significant damage.

HONORE: Yes. She was running track out in the gulf, you know, running around 13 miles an hour compared to Katrina running about 6 until it got a few miles off the coast and went up to 12 miles. It's done the reverse. It came in fast to the gulf and now it's appeared to have slowed down. Hopefully, it will lose some of its energy as it moves north, but it's doing the reverse of what Katrina, if you compared it to.

But the impact on New Orleans is going to be totally different this time. The levee system and the storm protection system will give the folks a lot of protection, but that will not prevent the amount of flooding that could happen in the city if we get any over topping of the levee in some places.

And it won't help the folks on the north shore because as that water continued to push into St. Tammany Parish, we could end up with significant flooding in St. Tammany Parish on the north shore and in St. John Parish on the south shore of Lake Pontchartrain as the levee systems will protect New Orleans.

And there are plans to put some levees in to protect St. John, but they're not done yet. So, we're going to have a long night ahead of us and we just keep our fingers crossed. If people need to hunker down and those who are figuring out what they -- how they want to help, one of the organizations they can help is the Red Cross.

[17:19:54]

They've sent 500 people in, as well as the United Cajun Navy and dozens of boats that come in from other states and Catholic charities. They're going to play a big role in taking care of people in days to come as we have to move people to shelters. And we're compounded with the shelters, Jim, because our shelters can't hold as many people because we have such a big COVID outbreak here because people refuse to take the shot and all the hospitals are full.

ACOSTA: And that's another dimension of this catastrophe that we're going to be feeling for days to come as well. All right, Lieutenant General Russel Honore, thanks so much for your expertise. As always, it's greatly appreciated. It's going to be a long night in Louisiana and a long night in the dark for many of the residents here, your neighbors there, because of all those power outages. Russel Honore, thanks so much. We appreciate it.

Our special coverage of Hurricane Ida continues right after this. We'll talk to the Cajun Navy in just a few moments. You're live in the "CNN Newsroom."

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[17:25:00]

ACOSTA: As we track Hurricane Ida, take a look at this incredible new video just in to CNN. You are looking at the roof of a clinic in Larose, Louisiana. The roof getting ripped off. Look at this video as it develops right here. You're going to see the roof getting ripped off of the building as Isa -- there it is right there. Just stunning images coming in as Ida's fierce winds tear through the state.

Right now, more than 400,000 people in the state are without power because of the storm. But you can just see here the roof of this building, this clinic here is just being decimated by Ida and its intense winds. We're going to keep on top of that, try to check in with the folks there. See how they're doing. We'll stay on top of it as this develops.

And with Hurricane Ida ravaging the Louisiana coast right now, thousands of National Guard members and FEMA personnel are set to be deployed for rescue and relief efforts. But also taking part in those operations will be the all-volunteer United Cajun Navy. The group has amassed some 40 boats, 15 trucks and counting, ready to deploy once it's safe in areas hit by this dangerous storm.

And joining me now by phone, the president of the United Cajun Navy, Todd Terrell or is Terrell. Help me, Todd, here. I'm sorry if I've mispronounced it. I know you've been doing this for so many years. Todd, give us -- give a sense --

TODD TERRELL, PRESIDENT UNITED CAJUN NAVY: Yes. Either way. Either way.

ACOSTA: Okay. That what I say with my last name, too. Give us a sense of the status of your operations now. I always have to double check because it's Louisiana, but give us a sense of the status of your operations right now. I hope you are all hunkering down right now.

But what is your sense of this storm because we've just been sort of gob smacked by the fact that this storm is taking a while to move through Louisiana and it is just devastating these areas that it's traveling through right now.

TERRELL: Yes, one thing, you know, we -- the reports originally were that it was going to hit, you know, around 140 miles an hour and immediately decrease pretty good. It appears as though it stayed pretty strong. It's still moving kind of towards the northwest. I don't think it's kind of made that easterly turn or northeasterly turn like they said.

It really hasn't gone into populated areas yet, you know. What's happening right now is even in Plaquemines Parish, the (inaudible) levee we just heard is overtopping. So there's a lot of things that are happening that, you know, we're not really prepared for. There are some pumps that were out. They are out in certain areas.

So, we're hearing some dire reports, a lot of roofs off of houses. People are calling us in, you know, over social media, Wi-Fi and stuff, with desperate attempts. It's a dire situation down here right now and it's only going to get worse if it even goes on.

ACOSTA: And so is it your sense, Todd, that this is worse than what we anticipated, that the conditions may be more intense and longer lasting than we anticipated?

TERRELL: I think it's definitely longer lasting. I think the storm is a lot stronger than it was anticipated. You know, even as far as Baton Rouge, we were kind of expecting Gustav-like conditions which if anybody remembers a few years back, Gustav brought mostly wind damage.

Right now what's going on along the coast is 140-mile an hour winds well inland. That's pretty strong. And, you know, roofs are coming off of these buildings and houses well inland. And still with 140-mile an hour winds, there's a lot of damage left to be seen. ACOSTA: And Todd, give us a sense of the status of your operations

right now. What will your team do? What will your teams do when they fan out across this area as soon as it's safe to do so?

TERRELL: You know in Louisiana, we have a lot of guys that are shrimpers and commercial fishermen that are in these areas, Cocodrie, Chauvin, Golden Meadows. Some of them stayed down there to be with their boats. You know, they figured that if the boat goes down, then they just don't want to be around anymore.

But right now, we're getting word from them as to what's going on. The winds are still too high for us to do any kind of serious rescue operations. Right now we're just kind of gathering facts. We have a few people in Chauvin, Louisiana that are hunkering down because the weather is really, really bad there.

We're expecting to start doing some rescues and some recoveries maybe starting around dark (ph) tonight which is going to really pose a problem because of all the debris in the road.

ACOSTA: Right. With the winds as intense as they are right now, many of these roads may be impassable. You may have trees down all over the place and have to take alternate routes to get to people who are in trouble. Todd, that sounds like a long night for you and your team. We'll let you go. We'll get back to you as soon as we can. Thanks so much for your help in getting this --

TERRELL: Yes, sir. Thank you.

ACOSTA: -- information out to the people. We appreciate it. And thank you.

Our special hurricane coverage continues right after this. Stay with us as we follow Hurricane Ida as it crashes into Louisiana. You're live in the CNN NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[17:30:00]

ACOSTA: Welcome back to our breaking coverage of Hurricane Ida. The dangerous Category 4 storm is thrashing Louisiana right now. There is extensive flooding in some areas of the state. You are looking at Grand Isle, Louisiana right now. Trees are coming down. Roofs are being ripped off. Hundreds of thousands of people are without power. Let's check in with CNN's Ed Lavandera. He joins us now from Baton Rouge, Louisiana.

Ed, I know it looks okay where you are right now, but because of the slow-moving nature of this hurricane, it may be a few hours before it gets to you. But I can just tell you from talking to your colleagues out in the field, our colleagues out in the field, it is just vicious when it arrives.

ED LAVANDERA, CNN SENIOR NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes. So the real big question, Jim, that remains the rest of the day is just how much strength and force will this hurricane lose as it comes further inland.

[17:35:01]

But regardless of how much force it loses in terms of wind speed and that sort of thing, this will still be a major concern of flooding and rain, not just today, Jim, but over the next couple of days because what's going to happen is that this hurricane is going to push inland, go north of where we are and then all of that rain and floodwater has to come rushing back toward the Gulf of Mexico.

And that is why flooding is going to be a major concern here in the next couple of days as those floodwaters begin to recede. But right now we are in the midst of bracing ourselves for this hurricane as it starts to push farther inland.

And people who have been staying and did not heed those evacuation warnings, we spoke with one gentleman. His name is Ronald Dufrene. He's on a 100-foot shrimp boat called the "Mr. Jug." He's in a little town called Laffite not too far from where Grand Isle is. I just spoke with him a little while ago.

He and his wife are riding out the storm on that shrimp boat. They're holding up okay, but they can sense the disaster that is unfolding all around them.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

LAVANDERA: How worried are you about how bad things are around you once this storm passes?

RONALD DUFRENE, COMMERCIAL SHRIMPER: Well, I'm worried about the damage it's done to my community. Like I say, I tell my family all the time and everybody else that tells me that I need to leave. And, you know, I feel comfortable here. You know, I feel safe here. And -- on the boat. I know my community took a beating. You know, I mean, I've seen transformers blow up on the other side of the bayou from right here.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LAVANDERA: And Jim, Ronald Dufrene says he has been able to communicate with several friends who are basically doing the same thing and riding out the storm on their boats. He says they've been recording some staggering wind gusts in the last few hours, Jim.

ACOSTA: I'm sure, Ed. And I hate to say it, but I wish he wouldn't be riding out the storm on a shrimp boat in Lafitte, Louisiana. But Ed, you and I both know, having traveled those parts, you're not going to talk some of those captains out of abandoning ship no matter how big the storm is. But we hope they stay safe and you as well, Ed.

LAVANDERA: Thanks, Jim.

ACOSTA: All right, Ed Lavandera there for us in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. Great report there.

Our special hurricane coverage continues right after this. You're live in the CNN NEWSROOM."

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[17:40:00]

ACOSTA: We're tracking Hurricane Ida as it pounds the state of Louisiana. Right now the city of Houma, southwest of New Orleans, getting the worst of it so far. Let's check back in with Jason Carroll who is also getting hammered by this storm. Jason, give us a sense as to how things are going now. Looks like trees are coming down.

CARROLL: Yes. Well, look, the wind has shifted so we've shifted positions as well, hopefully, to an even better position to where we were before. You know, this monster of a storm, Jim, just continues to terrorize Houma. This wind that has been coming through here has taken with it trees.

We've seen uprooted trees, downed power lines. Reports now coming in of damages to structures in the area, as well. But impossible to gauge how bad the damage is with all of this swirling around us. And emergency crews unable to get out there with all of this to assess exactly what's happening.

But we can tell you that initially we thought the eye of the storm would pass over us. Now it appears the eye of the storm is going to pass just to the east. So we're not going to even get a break from all of this at any point. We're just going to get the continued amount of wind that is continuing to come through here.

Emergency crews saying that they are leaving it at this point in Mother Nature's hands. That's all they can do, to wait this storm out. They are waiting it out at a secure location next to the courthouse. A solid brick structure. We are next to a brick structure here as well.

They are going to be getting out later on this evening, trying to get out and assess the damage. But for now, all they can do, all we can do is wait. I don't know if you can see behind here, we're trying to give it some light so you can see what's been happening out here.

We've seen some waters here starting to rise. Not severe flooding by any stretch of the imagination but some. It's really a wind event that we're experiencing here in Houma more than anything. It is howling through here and has been pounding and howling through here for the past two hours or so.

It's really unlike anything I've experienced. And as you know, Jim, I've been through two hurricanes, hurricane 5, Category 5 hurricanes in the past, and this feels nothing like it. Again, what we're being told is it's because the eye of the storm is moving to the east so we're just getting the edge of it. Constant battering with this wind. And it doesn't look like it's going to be letting up any time soon.

ACOSTA: Yes, Jason, we're seeing some activity among weather experts who were discussing this. The experts who were discussing this talking about the nature of the eye wall. And it sounds like the intense nature of this eye wall is what's contributing to what you are seeing in Houma.

[17:44:59]

And you're right. You're not going to get a break it looks like as the eye does not appear to be on track to pass over Houma which means your area in Houma, Louisiana is just going to continue to get battered until this storm starts moving that points north. Places like where Ed Lavandera is in Baton Rouge.

He's not really seeing the effects of it right now and our viewers should know as we're talking to Jason right now, he has just been there for hours and hours in these kind of conditions. And Jason, what is happening in the area around where you are? I see a hotel behind you with cars. It looks like there are people staged to do something after this is over, start cleaning up?

CARROLL: Right. These churning winds have just been coming through here. That is a hotel behind us. Our hotel behind that downed tree that you can see that just went down a short while ago. This entire area is without power. And the trees surrounding the hotel, many of those trees have been uprooted, falling on cars, et cetera, et cetera.

That's minor damage. What we're hearing about coming in now are damage to structures. That's what's emergency crews are really going to be worried about. Downed power lines, damage to structures. Highway 56 which leads out to a more remote area in this parish, getting out there to those homes, those people who decided not to evacuate. That's going to be where the trouble comes in as this storm passes. Jim?

ACOSTA: All right, Jason. Great work out there. You and your crew stay -- continue to stay safe. We'll get back to you just as soon as we can. We appreciate it so much. Our special coverage of Hurricane Ida continues right after this as you look at live pictures of New Orleans. We'll check in there, all parts of Louisiana as we can throughout the hour and the hours ahead as Ida is wreaking havoc in Louisiana. We'll keep you posted on all the latest developments. You're live in the CNN NEWSROOM.

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[17:50:00]

ACOSTA: Welcome back to our breaking news coverage of Hurricane Ida. The monster storm is grinding through southeastern Louisiana, but it's moving pretty slowly. And that's even more dangerous when you think about Ida's potential winds and its powerful storm surge that's moving through the area right now.

I'm joined now by the director of the National Hurricane Center, Ken Graham. Ken, when you look at the satellite and the radar for Ida, what has you most concerned right now? Forgive me for geeking out just a little bit, but I'm reading about concerns about meso vortexes. And forgive me if I'm saying that wrong, but are there characteristics of this eye wall that are making this storm particularly dangerous and vicious? KEN GRAHAM, DIRECTOR, NATIONAL HURRICANE CENTER: Jim, you said it

exactly correct and I think what -- from a meteorological perspective, if you look at that system now, I'm staring down at the screen looking at the radar. I'm seeing those meso vortexes. It looks as good as it was over the gulf.

So as a result, we have lower (inaudible) winds. You still have a 130- mile per hour winds. This is a healthy hurricane, even though we're continuing to move on land. So places like Houma, we could still see those wind gusts, 130 miles an hour or even higher. Just incredibly damaging. We are seeing in the New Orleans area, I mean, (inaudible) airport and also Lakefront Airport. You're still getting hurricane force wind gusts, 70 to 80 miles per hour and look how far away you are from the center.

ACOSTA: And what advice do you have for those folks in the path of the storm right now? People may be tempted to go outside. This is just moving so slowly, people have to resist those temptations, I think, at this point.

GRAHAM: Yes. I think, Jim, I was thinking about the words to use at this time and I think we can't let our guard down just because we've made landfall. This thing start -- this isn't just starting. I mean, we're just starting with this because you still have areas to go with. Donaldsonville and Baton Rough.

If we're not going to bring these winds down any time fast, that's going to bring some of these winds close to Baton Rouge, Livingston Parish, up to near Hammond. So you've got some outer rain bands in some of these outer eye wall bands that's going to produce just horrible wind damage.

And look at the rainfall. Jim, I was looking at this as well. The slower you move -- look at these rain bands and some tornadoes and those rain bands. Even though the individual cells are moving fast, notice there's no east-west movement. All this rainfall is going to start really piling up.

ACOSTA: Yes. I was noticing those really nasty outer bands stretching all the way over to Pensacola on the Florida Panhandle. I mean, they're going to see bad stuff from this, too. Let me ask you though, I know the national weather center, other forecasters were saying that this storm could render parts of Louisiana uninhabitable in the days to come.

But as you look at the storm, the characteristics of the storm as it crashes into Louisiana right now, is this worse than what you anticipated because it's moving sloe slowly? Because it has stayed defined in the way it has?

GRAHAM: Yes. You know, looking back at our forecast, we were predicting days ago this rapid intensification which occurred last night. And then we talked about it slowing down once it made landfall as it turns back to the north. They always slow down, Jim. Every time you have a movement change, you start turning to the north and then back to the northeast. They slow down. So that's what's happening. So, we really did -- really expect this, but the real take-away here

is we're just so far from done. And this storm surge is another big reminder, really important. We're not done with the storm surge yet either. We made landfall around Port Fouchon. We saw the center around Houma.

That means prolonged winds out of the south and out of the southeast. You could still pile up some of these water in some of these areas. So some people saw the storm surge early. Some people have yet to see it.

ACOSTA: All right, Ken Graham, it's a powerful and dangerous storm. Thanks to all of your folks who are staying on top of it. We appreciate it. Thanks so much.

GRAHAM: Thank you.

[17:54:59]

ACOSTA: And our special hurricane coverage continues right after this. You're looking at live pictures of the Big Easy, New Orleans, Louisiana. It's just a nasty night ahead for New Orleans. People there need to hunker down as these conditions deteriorate over the coming hours.

You're now looking at Mobile Bay. These are some more pictures coming in from Mobile Bay, Alabama as we're just talking about it with Ken over at the National Weather Center. The outer bands of this hurricane are just vicious right now and they're getting some very significant rainfall as that storm hits other parts of the gulf coast.

So, stay with us. Our special hurricane coverage continues right after this. You're live in the CNN NEWSROOM.

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[17:59:59]