you know, not only flash flooding is going to be an issue into the overnight hours but also significant damage and when you re speaking of winds of this magnitude at landfall the national hurricane center often says the area will be uninhabitable for a period of weeks to months. we know that damage in place, that certainly has already taken place along the southern coast of louisiana. you take a look at the mullet plier effect and people often think a category increase from 1 to 2 is a linear increase. only a one category increase. but the damage impacts are about a 10 x increase in the damage impacts and bring the winds up to 150 miles per hour as ida had at peak intensity at landfall that is 256 times more damage than category 1 at landfall. it speaks to the historic nature of the storm system not only in intense but the landfall. new orleans and louisiana now has had back-to-back years with 150-mile-per-hour landfalls. back in 2020 and now the only
back-to-back years with 150-mile-per-hour landfalling storms. you take a look. when it comes to this magnitude of a system, national hurricane center typically says the area that is impacted, which would be right along the southern tier of those parishes there where that area could be uninhabitable for a period of weeks or months. that s the concern when it made landfall, the concern into the overnight hours, the dangerous amount of rainfall still being observed in this region of northern louisiana and southern mississippi. now, the area has seen one of its wettest years on record prior to ida moving ashore. so any additional rainfall here going to lead to additional flash floods. we know plenty of flood warnings in place at this hour all around new orleans and points to the west, points to the north, and this is going to continue in the overnight hours with as much as maybe 8 to 10 inches in the forecast before it s all said and done out of this region. these are observed estimated ra
storm, it s still barreling just barely. it s approaching areas to the east of natchez, mississippi. it will be toward jackson by the time we get to daybreak. what a night on the coast of the gulf of mexico. the winds off the waters are relentless. there s where we re very concerned with flash flooding problems and now that s starting to shift toward mobile. as far as max wind gusts, they ve come down significantly. baton rouge is at 23 miles an hour. the wind damage portion of the storm is starting to come to an end. that s good. as far as the strongest winds, down along the coast. 150-mile-per-hour wind gusts. there was a boat that was docked
dangerous storm just made landfall only moments ago as a category 4 storm with 150-mile-per-hour winds. my weather vain registered a 168-mile-per-hour wind and then it broke. it almost feels like someone with giant hands has taken the wind and water from behind me and is pushing it toward the city of new orleans. this is the time to stay inside. do not venture out. there is flying debris all over the place. you ll see my eyes dart back and forth. i have to constantly watch out for me and my team. these bands of wind and rain have steadily been coming through here in houma. makes it very difficult at this point to stand up. just let the visuals play out. the reason i can stand here is only because of the concrete wall to my left.
right now getting reports of 90-mile-per-hour winds coming out of new orleans and the track still going to be a problem even for the baton rouge area. the latest track from the national hurricane center, we do have sustained winds of 110 miles per hour, and that s over eight hours ago the storm roared in with 150-mile-per-hour winds, so it has not died down very much. joshua, the issue is that we have seen a dramatic slowdown, and coming out of the north northwest at 9 miles per hour, so that movement is not very fast and that is going to allow for prolonged moisture across the area. new orleans getting a little lucky right now as this system is staying parallel to that area and baton rouge, and we re going to continue to see kind of that movement throughout the overnight into the early morning. the problem is it s not going to lose its moisture content as it