Hurricane Ida blasts ashore in Louisiana with major force

Hurricane Ida has come ashore in Louisiana, with the eye of one of the most powerful storms ever to hit the U.S. coming arriving near the barrier island of Grand Isle with winds of 150 mph.

Ida’s landfall on Sunday came on the same date Hurricane Katrina ravaged Louisiana and Mississippi 16 years earlier, about 40 miles west of where Category 3 Katrina first struck land.

Arriving with a barometric pressure of 930 millibars, Ida preliminarily goes down as tied for the fifth strongest hurricane to make landfall in the United States based on wind speed. Based on central pressure it is tied for 9th strongest U.S. landfall.