A shocking video has surfaced on social media showing Hurricane Ida ripping a roof off of a local hospital in Louisiana. This comes as the potentially deadly Category 4 storm hit the region after making landfall along the US Gulf Coast on 29 August.
The video, tweeted by a local NBC-TV reporter, captured the exact moment a portion of the roof came off the Lady of the Sea General Hospital in Galliano, south of New Orleans.
US President Joe Biden has already approved a disaster declaration for Louisiana.
The Ascension Parish Sheriff's Office (APSO) confirmed on 29 August that a person died after sustaining injuries from a fallen tree at a residence off of Highway 621 in Prairieville.
The US National Hurricane Centre (NHC) earlier stated that Ida had weakened to a Category 2 storm on 29 August, but still poses a danger, with maximum sustained winds of 177 kilometres per hour reported in Louisiana.
On the same day, emergency authorities in New Orleans announced that the city, which has a population of about 384,000, was left without power because of damage to energy facilities caused by the calamity.
Speaking at a Sunday meeting of the US Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), Biden warned that Hurricane Ida was going to be a major life-threatening storm and promised all the necessary federal assistance to Louisiana, Mississippi, and Alabama. Biden approved emergency disaster declarations for Louisiana and Mississippi on 27-28 August, authorising direct federal help, including power generation.