Hurricane Ida continues to push through New Orleans with wind speeds of up to 120 miles per hour.
Some Jacksonville residents say their loved ones did not evacuate and they’re concerned. They haven’t heard from their loved ones for a few hours and that makes them wonder what conditions are like there. They’re praying everyone stays safe.
At 8:15 Sunday night we received this message from Jacksonville resident Katie Boden who has a friend in New Orleans: “It’s bad...roof leaking...siding gone....fence gone. We are in my hall bathroom scared to death.”
Arlene Blevins sent News4Jax a video of outside her nephew’s home in New Orleans. You can see heavy rainfall and strong winds.
“I think maybe the second video, the one that I sent you really hit home like, ‘wow it’s here.’ It was very windy but hopefully it won’t get any more windy throughout the night,” said Blevins.
Blevins said her nephew boarded up his home and bought a generator on Saturday before the storm hit.
Blevins said her nephew moved to New Orleans 16 years ago for his construction job repairing structures from Katrina. Now he’ll be there for another historically dangerous hurricane.
“I just want them to be safe. I’m praying for the safety that nobody gets harmed,” said Blevins.
Shannon Reiman also has friends in Louisiana. They live in the southern portion of the state and evacuated only to New Orleans.
“Last I heard they were OK, but that was at noon,” said Reiman.
She said her friends went through Hurricane Katrina, so she has faith they’ll get through Ida.
“They seemed pretty casual about it,” said Reiman.
More than 700,000 customers are without power in Louisiana as Hurricane Ida continues to pound the coastal state. Power outages are expected to continue increasing as the storm moves inland.