By Sharon Challenger
(August 30, 2021) Hurricane Ida is surprisingly visible on Earth from 1 million miles away as seen by NOAA’s Deep Space Climate Observatory.
Crews on the International Space Station photographed the storm as it approached the U.S. mainland.
By observing hurricanes from space, NASA is able to help NOAA and FEMA in disaster preparations and response.
The hurricane made landfall in Louisiana as a Category 4 storm near Port Fourchon, Louisiana on the 16th anniversary of Hurricane Katrina.
Power has been knocked out for millions across Louisiana and Mississippi and flooding and destruction are widespread. An alert was sent out by Entergy New Orleans that the entire Orleans Parish (approx. 390,000 residents) was without power as of Sunday evening.
A state of emergency was declared by Louisiana Governor John Bel Edwards, and President Joe Biden approved the Governor’s request to declare a federal state of emergency in Louisiana. The declaration will enable FEMA to respond with relief efforts and make funding available.
FEMA has deployed an additional 500 emergency response personnel, one million meals, 1.6 million liters of water, and generators according to President Biden.
