Biden visits FEMA headquarters as Ida slams New Orleans

President Biden visited the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s (FEMA) headquarters on Sunday as Hurricane Ida made landfall earlier as a Category 4 storm. 

Biden outlined steps that officials were taking to make sure that resources could be distributed to those affected by storm, saying that millions of meals and liters of water in addition to many generators were ready to be distributed as needed. He also lauded the federal levee system in the state that saw major improvements following the devastation left behind by Hurricane Katrina in 2005.

“As soon as the storm passes … we’re gonna put the country’s full might behind the rescue and recovery. And I mean that. I’ve been around for a lot of hurricanes – I’m no expert, but I’ve been around for a lot of hurricanes and I don’t think we’ve ever had as much preparation, long term preparation with a levee system and preparation here,” Biden said on Sunday. 

The National Hurricane Center said Ida made its initial landfall in Port Fourchon, La., around 11:55 a.m. local time “with maximum sustained winds of 150 mph and a minimum central pressure of 930 mb (27.46 inches).”

1155 AM CDT: #Ida made landfall as an extremely dangerous category 4 hurricane near Port Fourchon, Louisiana, with maximum sustained winds of 150 mph and a minimum central pressure of 930 mb (27.46 inches) https://t.co/tW4KeFW0gB pic.twitter.com/iHdKMGk0tq

— National Hurricane Center (@NHC_Atlantic) August 29, 2021

Around 2 p.m. local time Hurricane Ida made a second landfall in Galliano, La., as hurricane conditions started to spread into the state, the center reported, adding later that a “life-threatening surge” could carry on for the next few hours.

2pm CDT: #IDA made a second landfall as a Category 4 hurricane southwest of Galliano, LA. Hurricane conditions are spreading inland across southeast Louisiana. https://t.co/tW4KeFW0gB pic.twitter.com/tlSH2AJgXj

— National Hurricane Center (@NHC_Atlantic) August 29, 2021

Louisiana Gov. John Bel Edwards (D) expressed optimism on Sunday when asked if Louisiana’s $14 billion levee system could hold against the hurricane.

“Yeah well that, that’s, all of our modeling shows that, we feel very good about what’s inside the hurricane risk reduction system,” Edwards said on CBS’ “Face The Nation.”

However, he acknowledged that it would be “a tremendous test” on some of the state’s lesser systems.

“We have lesser systems, protection, built along the coast where the levees aren’t as hot and they’re not as fortified. And we’re very concerned there and this will be a tremendous test of those systems and quite frankly it’s going to be the strongest test we’ve had yet for the current hurricane and storm risk reduction system itself,” he added.