First death related to major Hurricane Ida reported outside of Baton Rouge
Hurricane Ida has claimed its first life in Louisiana.
The Ascension Parish Sheriff’s Office reported at 9 p.m. that someone died after possibly being injured by a fallen tree. The death happened off of U.S. 621 in Prairieville, a suburb of Baton Rouge about 30 miles from the eye of the storm as of 9:40 p.m Sunday.
“Shortly after 8:30 p.m. deputies received reports of a citizen possibly injured from a fallen tree at a residence off of Highway 621 in Prairieville,” Ascension Parish Sheriff’s Office said in a Facebook post. “Deputies arrived on scene and confirmed that the victim is now deceased.
The region has been under mandatory evacuation orders for days, and officials say a storm surge could arrive overnight Sunday. Ida made landfall as a Category 4 storm and slowed down, maintaining major hurricane strength for about 9 hours before weakening to a Category 2 hurricane.
At least hundreds of thousands of people are without power in Louisiana, with all of New Orleans in the dark due to “catastrophic damage” to Entergy’s electricity transmission system.
Follow here for live updates on the storm.
This story was originally published August 29, 2021 at 10:00 PM.
