WATCH: Live Space Coast Daily TV Report from Louisiana as Hurricane Ida Strengthens to CAT 4 Force Winds

expected to hit New Orleans Sunday on the 16th anniversary of Hurricane Katrina

EYE OF A MONSTER: @NOAA‘s #GOESEast 🛰️ gives an up-close look at the lightning swirling around the eye of #HurricaneIda, a dangerous Cat. 4 #hurricane, nearing the coast of southeastern #Louisiana.
Please stay safe!

More: https://t.co/arzjJiHnjF#LAwx #MSwx #idahurricane #ida pic.twitter.com/QosgjNT87l

— NOAA Satellites (@NOAASatellites) August 29, 2021

(NHC) – Hurricane Ida became a Category 4 hurricane as it approaches the Louisiana coast after gaining strength over the warmest ocean waters of the Gulf of Mexico. It is expected to hit New Orleans Sunday on the 16th anniversary of Hurricane Katrina.

Ida’s hurricane winds increased 45 mph to 150 mph in just five hours and the system was expected to make landfall early Sunday afternoon on the 16th anniversary that Hurricane Katrina hit Louisiana and Mississippi in 2005, killing an estimated 1,800 people.

Hurricane Ida is the ninth named storm, fourth hurricane and second major hurricane of the 2021 Atlantic hurricane season,

Ida originated from a tropical wave first monitored by the National Hurricane Center on August 23, moving into the Caribbean Sea and developing into a tropical storm on August 26.

On August 27, Ida became a Category 1 hurricane and initiated rapid intensification on the next day, becoming a Category 2 hurricane at 18:00 UTC on August 28. Ida further intensified into a Category 3 hurricane by 06:00 UTC on August 29, and within an hour, became the first Category 4 hurricane of the season.

According to Fox Weather’s Janice Dean, only two hurricanes on record — since 1851 — have made landfall in Louisiana with sustained winds that strong: Last Island in 1856, and Hurricane Laura in 2020. Both of those hurricanes were 150 mph at landfall.

The NHC said that just four CAT 5 hurricanes have made landfall in the U.S., including Michael in 2018, Andrew in 1992, Camille in 1969 and the Labor Day Hurricane that flattened Florida in 1935.

STAY TUNED TO SPACE COAST DAILY FOR UPDATES

WATCH: Space Coast Daily’s Daryl Durand provides a live report from Louisiana as Hurricane Ida became a Category 4 hurricane and is approaching the Louisiana coast after gaining strength over the warmest ocean waters of the Gulf of Mexico. It is expected to hit New Orleans Sunday on the 16th anniversary of Hurricane Katrina.

Stunning video taken from inside the eye of #Ida this morning by the NESDIS Ocean Winds Research team during a flight on the @NOAA_HurrHunter P3 aircraft @NOAASatellites pic.twitter.com/sjt970Yeiq

— National Hurricane Center (@NHC_Atlantic) August 29, 2021

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