With no time left to properly evacuate, New Orleans residents should prepare to ride out Hurricane Ida at home, Mayor LaToya Cantrell said Friday.
Why it matters: The hurricane is forecast to hit the central Louisiana coast as a potentially catastrophic Category 4 storm.
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There isn’t enough time to establish necessary highway contraflow procedures to evacuate all residents before Ida is expected to touch land on Sunday afternoon, Cantrell said.
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“We are not calling for a mandatory evacuation because the time simply is not on our side. We do not want to have people on the road, and therefore in greater danger,” Cantrell noted.
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“The situation is much more serious than it was six hours ago.”
The big picture: Earlier in the day, coastal communities outside the city’s levee system, which protects from flooding, were ordered to evacuate.
Go deeper: Hurricane Ida to slam Gulf Coast as a Category 4 storm this weekend
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