Hurricane Ida is pummeling southeast Louisiana and southern Mississippi, and its dangers of damaging winds, rainfall flooding and tornadoes will only spread inland over the South over the next few days.

Ida Still a Dangerous Hurricane
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Bands of heavy rain containing strong wind gusts and storm surge flooding along the coast continues as far east as Alabama.

However, the worst conditions continue to be in southeast Louisiana and southern Mississippi, near and to the east of the center of Ida.

Storm surge pushed water levels over 7 feet above normal at Shell Beach, Louisiana, in St. Bernard Parish, during Ida's landfall, and 7 feet above normal at Waveland, Mississippi, well after landfall Sunday night as strong southeast winds continued to pile water onto the Mississippi coast.

Serious storm surge flooding was accompanied by wind gusts over 100 mph in Grand Isle, Louisiana, and multiple homes were reportedly removed from their foundations by storm surge in Galliano, about 25 miles northwest of Grand Isle.

Several feet of storm surge from Lake Pontchartrain was captured in video in LaPlace, about 25 miles west-northwest of downtown New Orleans, reportedly entering homes.

Water almost up to a stop sign was seen flowing through the Venetian Isles neighborhood in New Orleans East, an area under mandatory evacuation outside of protection from levees, according to WDSU TV.

The combination of storm surge and torrential rain prompted the NWS to issue rare flash flood emergencies for the lakeshore area of metro New Orleans, and also for St. John the Baptist and St. Charles Parishes, including LaPlace Sunday night.

The National Weather Service issued several extreme wind warnings for parts of southeast Louisiana Sunday, a rarely-issued warning for tornado-like winds of 115 mph or greater in the eyewall of Ida, potentially including the western side of the New Orleans metro area.

(MORE: Maps to Track Ida)

According to NOAA's Best Track database, no Category 3 or stronger hurricane has taken a northward path just west of New Orleans similar to Ida in almost 106 years.

Numerous wind gusts over 100 mph were clocked in far southeast Louisiana near the coast, including in Galliano and Dulac. A sustained wind of 149 mph with a gust to 172 mph was measured aboard a ship in Port Fourchon as Ida made landfall. Wind damage was reported to numerous homes in Lafourche Parish.

Power lines and trees were downed in the New Orleans metro area where wind gusts up to 99 mph have been measured. Damage was captured on video in the French Quarter, and in other parts of the city.

The winds knocked out power to all of Orleans Parish due to what Entergy referred to as "catastrophic transmission damage".

Gusts from 60 to 70 mph were also measured in Baton Rouge late Sunday night.

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In Mississippi, wind gusts from 50 to 65 mph were measured along the coast, and a possible tornado produced tree damage in Gulfport.

Ida's center came as close as 25 miles west of New Orleans, and is moving to the north at around 10 mph.

Ida is expected to weaken to a tropical storm by Monday morning, then tropical depression by Monday night over Mississippi.

Its remnant low will then track through the central Appalachians, then Northeast later in the week.

Hurricane warnings extend inland to include all of southeast Louisiana, including Baton Rouge and New Orleans, and a few counties in southwest Mississippi.

Tropical storm warnings extend from central Louisiana to Mississippi and southwest Alabama.

Forecast Impacts

Storm Surge

Life-threatening storm surge will continue for a bit longer along the coast and to some degree inland near and east of Ida's center.

A storm surge warning has been issued from Morgan City, Louisiana, to the Alabama/Florida border including Lake Borgne, Lake Pontchartrain, Lake Maurepas and Mobile Bay. This means life-threatening inundation from storm surge is happening in these areas.

The following storm surge inundations are possible if the peak surge happens at high tide, according to the National Hurricane Center (NHC).

-Morgan City, Louisiana, to Bay St. Louis, Mississippi, including Lake Borgne: 7 to 11 feet

-Lake Pontchartrain: 5 to 8 feet

-Bay St. Louis, Mississippi to Ocean Springs, Mississippi: 4 to 7 feet

-Lake Maurepas: 4 to 6 feet

-Ocean Springs, Mississippi, to the border between Alabama and Florida: 3 to 5 feet

The NHC also notes that overtopping of local levees outside of the hurricane and storm damage risk reduction system is possible where local inundation values may be higher.

Winds

Hurricane conditions will spread northward through the hurricane warning area of southeast Louisiana and far southwest Mississippi through early Monday morning.

Downed trees, widespread power outages and structural damage will impact a large portion of southeast Louisiana into southwest Mississippi, including the Baton Rouge and New Orleans metros. Power outages in some locations could last for days or even weeks.

Scattered power outages are possible well inland into Monday, possibly as far north as northern Mississippi, southwest Tennessee and northwest Alabama.

Rainfall

Widespread flash flooding, particularly where bands of rain stall for a period of a few hours, is expected near and inland from the northern Gulf Coast. Heavy rain will also lead to river flooding that could linger for several days after the storm.

At least a local flash flood threat will also penetrate inland into the Deep South, Tennessee Valley, Ohio Valley, Central Appalachians and mid-Atlantic through midweek.

NOAA's Weather Prediction Center is forecasting the following rainfall totals:

-Southeast Louisiana and southern Mississippi: 10 to 18 inches, with isolated 24-inch totals through Monday.

-Coastal Alabama to the western Florida Panhandle: 5 to 10 inches, with locally up 15 inches possible through Tuesday morning.

-Central Mississippi: 4 to 8 inches, with isolated totals up 12 inches possible through Monday night.

-Middle Tennessee Valley to the Ohio Valley, central Appalachians and mid-Atlantic: 3 to 6 inches, with localized heavier totals Tuesday into Wednesday.

Flood watches have been issued by the National Weather Service for this dangerous heavy rainfall threat from the eastern half of Louisiana into parts of southeast Arkansas, Mississippi, western Alabama, the western Florida Panhandle and western and middle Tennessee.

Tornadoes

Isolated tornadoes are frequently a concern with inland tropical cyclones.

Some rotating cells in Ida's rainbands may spawn tornadoes from southeast Louisiana into southern Mississippi, southern Alabama and the Florida Panhandle into Monday. This threat might spread as far north and east as the Tennessee Valley and northern Georgia Monday into Tuesday.

As a reminder, Tropical Storm Fred spawned 29 tornadoes from the South to the Northeast over a week ago.

Storm History

Ida began as Tropical Depression Nine on Aug. 26 while south of the Cayman Islands. Just over six hours later, an Air Force Reserve Hurricane Hunter mission found its winds were strong enough to upgrade to Tropical Storm Ida.

A burst of thunderstorms near Ida's center then allowed it to rapidly intensify into a hurricane on Aug. 27 as it moved over western Cuba.

Ida then took advantage of very warm Gulf water, winds aloft spreading apart and plenty of moist air to rapidly intensify again from Cat. 1 to Cat. 4 status in 24 hours from Saturday to Sunday morning prior to its landfall.

Ida's center crossed the coast near Port Fourchon, Louisiana, at 11:55 a.m. CDT Sunday. Maximum sustained winds were 150 mph, making Ida a high-end Category 4 hurricane.

Ida tied two other hurricanes for the strongest landfall on record in the state of Louisiana based on maximum wind speeds. Laura had 150-mph winds when it tracked into southwest Louisiana last year. The other hurricane to make landfall in Louisiana with winds that high was in 1856.

(MORE: Hurricane Ida Gives Louisiana Cat. 4 Landfalls in Back-to-Back Season For First Time)

Ida also made landfall on the 16th anniversary of Hurricane Katrina's landfall in 2005.

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The Weather Company’s primary journalistic mission is to report on breaking weather news, the environment and the importance of science to our lives. This story does not necessarily represent the position of our parent company, IBM.

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