CoreLogic: Hurricane Ida Threatens 941K Homes with $220B in Rebuilding Cost

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Severe wind, surge inundation and extended heavy rainfall endanger more than 941,000 homes with a reconstruction cost value of all at-risk homes totaling more than $220 billion, catastrophe modeling firm CoreLogic reported on Sunday.

The central Louisiana coast is at risk of bearing the brunt of Hurricane Ida, now a Category 4 storm.

Damaging winds between 130-156 mph, storm surge of up to 15 feet, and extremely heavy, widespread rainfall between 10-15 inches, is expected in the area.

“Atmospheric conditions are highly favorable for rapid intensification after Ida emerges from Cuba on Saturday into Sunday,” Daniel Betten, meteorologist and senior leader for Weather Science at CoreLogic, said in a statement. “Ida will also be passing over an extremely warm loop current, which is known to contribute to the rapid intensification of hurricanes in the central Gulf of Mexico, most famously seen with Hurricanes Katrina and Rita in 2005.”

Ida made landfall in Louisiana on Sunday, forcing those who did not flee to brace themselves for the toughest test yet of the billions of dollars spent on levee upgrades following Hurricane Katrina 16 years ago.

Ida came ashore near Port Fourchon at 11:55 a.m. CDT (16:55 GMT), the National Hurricane Center said. Hurricane-strength winds extended 50 miles out from Ida’s eye, forcing New Orleans to suspend emergency medical services as the storm crawled northwest at 13 miles per hour, according to a Reuters article on Insurance Journal.

More than 300,000 Louisiana homes and businesses had already lost electricity, mostly in the state’s southeast, Reuters reported.

A Tweet from the @CityOfNOLA sent on Friday notified of “a mandatory evacuation for areas outside the levees (red) and a voluntary evacuation for the rest of the parish (yellow). #Ida could bring up to 11ft surge outside levees, and dangerous winds & heavy rain for the full area.”

Ida is the fourth named hurricane of the 2021 season and the first projected major hurricane at Category 4, and as Ida approaches the Gulf coastline, its path will become more certain and the below metropolitan areas at risk will narrow, according to the CoreLogic report.