Responding so far. Were keeping an eye on Fema Headquarters, where president biden arrived a short time ago to get a briefing. Well bring you that as well. But first the City Of New Orleans right now, the latest data from the national Hurricane Centers puts the storm about 150 miles away from the city. Catastrophic Storm Surge, Extreme Winds and Flash Flooding are being seen along the states coast. You can see this Surveillance Camera from a nearby house, earlier in Grand Isle, louisiana, a small strip of land that a lot of folks were worried about. We also know more than 120,000 Power Outages have been reported, so people are already in the dark. Were getting a rare look at the eye of the storm. We want to show you the striking video from a flied above the eye earlier today before it made landfall. It really shows how massive this Storms Path of destruction could be. All right. We mentioned new orleans. Lets go there now. Thats where we find Today Show Cohost al roker. How is it looking so far . And what are your main concerns . Reporter well, our main concerns, were talking about these Wind Gusts. Weve had Wind Gusts reported here of 88 miles an hour at Port For Yo fourchon. Weve got some traffic thats starting to move through, but again, for the most part, these streets, especially downtown new orleans, have really been fairly have been very deserted. You can see palm fronds all over the street. We looked for this Heavy Rain to start inundating this city right now. We can hear awnings rattling. Were keeping an eye out to be very careful about any flying debris. In fact, an update, Louisiana Power reporting 223,000 customers without power at this hour. That number is just going to grow exponentially. The other problem will be the rain, torrential rain, and the deal is, if you dont live along the gulf coast, you think, okay, thats horrible for them, but hopefully theyll survive. Ida is coming for you if youre in the eastern happen of the country. Its going to make its way up, and then toward the end of the Week Northeast with torrential rainfall. There is going to be rain. As we listen to these winds and watch them blowing, later this evening, the prediction is we could see upwards of 100mileperhour Wind Gusts here in new orleans around 6 00. So that will be a time when we will be getting ready for Nightly News with Tom Llamas filling in from here, and we may see Power Outages going down. Storm surge has not been as bad as we were expecting, but were not done yet. Its still too early to breathe a sigh of relief, so were waiting and watching. The eye has not passed over the mainland u. S. Yet, so we have to wait for that. We want you and your crew to stay safe. Thank you for the update. Well go to governor bel edwards, who is updating us all. For goodness sake, dont drive around. Its just not worth it. The same goes for the immediate aftermath of the storm after its passed by, because there will be downed Power Lines. Theres going to be standing water. Theres going to be debris, other dangers, and quite frankly, we cant tell you yet how soon it will be before first responder can respond to calls for assistance, so please dont go out. The extent to which individuals decide to get out and about will inhibit the flow of first responders, and searchandrescue assets, highwater vehicles, so forth. So please be patient. Once the storm hassed, you need to be prepared to shelter in place for the next 72 hours. Well get there sooner if at all possible, in order to rescue people across the state of louisiana, but this is the window of time that it makes hay, in order to get first responders to you, depending on conditions. You should know that the entirety of the Louisiana National Guard has been activated and currently more than 4,900 guardsmen are out in support of current operations. Just on the searchandrescue assets, theyre staged across 114 parishes, 73 Boats and 34 helicopters ready to support and assist the citizens of louisiana. There remains 169 Wildlife And Fishery agencies with trucks and Boats in the same number in order to do search and rescue. The most robust Searchandrescue Effort we have consists of more than 900 individuals, making up 21 teams that are represented by 16 different states. The numbers i just gave you include the Louisiana State Fire Marshals Office and their Boats. 185 coaches will be available by Tomorrow Morning. The department of corrections, our prisons, have produced more than 34,000 Sandbag Foss communities across southern louisiana. They have also completed the evacuation of 2500 inmates from seven local jails, those being acadia, or liens, Clack Amen some, st. Mary, st. Bernard and terrabone parishes. All of our Hurricanes Protection systems have been fully im sorry have been completely closed and all structures are fully operational at this time. As late at this morning, additional protection measures were being taken by levee districts. They completed sandbagging operations to address low areas ahead of the storm. Based on the Hurricane Track and the wind, Rain And Surge forecast for the remainder of the hurricane, the cpra is indicating some overtopping of the Soy Portions of the laroche to golden meadow levee system, nonfederal backed levees and and nonfederal level in lower st. Bernard parish as well. Obviously overtopping is concerns, but i want to make sure Overtopping And Levee failure are not the same thing. A Levee Failure can be much more catastrophic, and so they are not the same things. Obviously were going to continue to monitor this flood protection system. I can tell you right now, we have not seen any overtopping of the Mississippi River levees or overtopping in the Risk Reduction System around the Greater New Orleans area. Clearly you have seen the reports, and up until a short while ago i was able to look at live video feeds. There are very significant Storm Surge impacts ar Grand Isle. Cpra has prestaged pumps and will deploy Flood Fighting assets to coastal parishes in need of dewatering as soon as it is safe to do so. This is obviously a very fluid situation, rapidly changing. Thats why everyone needs to stay abreast by Listening To News and following the guidance from your local fiducials. Officials. Really nobody in South Louisiana should be On The Roads, but if travel becomes necessary, please proceed with extreme caution. There are hazards out there that you may experience before anybody may be able to get to first and warn you about it. This is especially true of debris, downed Power Lines and standing water. Please check 511, la. Org for road closures, and please dont drive through standing water. Thats how we lose an awful lot of people after storms. Many parishes are announcing curfews as we speak, so all louisianians should following the recommendations of their local leaders, which are obviously designed to keep us all safe. The conditions vary by parish, and have different considerations in mind, so please honor these curfews and avoid needless risk to your own safety and that of your family and please keep trees clear. If you have evacuated, dont be tempted tomorrow to return before you know it is okay to do so. Please contact your office of emergency preparedness, or monitor any announcement they have as to whether it is the right time for you to return. The last count that i have before coming over here is 1542 individuals are being sheltered across the state, in at least 23 different shelters. The vast majority of those been being operated by parishes. Obviously we expect this number to increase throughout the day and potentially in the days to come, as people discover that their homes are no longer habitable. 898211 you can text for the latest shelters, or you can call 211. Heed the guidance of local officials. Theyll have the Mousse Uptodate Shelter information for a specific area on parish. As we have mentioned several times before, if you lose electricity, and you decide to use a generator, it is imperative you follow the instructions from the manufacturer. Please make sure that generator is well away from your home in a well ventilated area. It should not be inside, shouldnt be in a garage, a crawlspare, under a wind or a vent. On occasion you will need to refuel the generator. Please make sure you cool it off for 20 minutes before doing so. In closing, before i take some questions, theres No Doubt the coming weeks will be difficult for our state, and many, many people are going to be tested in ways we can only imagine today. But i can also tell you, as a state, we have never been more prepared. Again, all the models we have seen from the Army Corps are engineers and from our own cpra that the Risk Reduction System will hold and perform as intended. Will it be tested . Yes, but it was built for this moment. I have a tremendous amount of confidence in the team we have assembled at the state level, all the local officials and first responders and our federal partners. By the way, i want to thank Fema Administrator roberts, and i it tell you a short while ago i had a call with administrator chris well of fema, and she is very closely watching what is happening here, coordinating with us, and already has various things en route so we can employ them just as soon as possible, things like generators, and so forth. So i have a tremendous amount of confidence in our team, all the state and local officials and our federal partners, but i also have confidence in the people of louisiana. They always continue to inspire me with their goodness, decency and generosity. I know theyll do everything they can to protect themselves and their families and their neighbors, especially those who may have special needs. Maybe theyre elderly, so forth. Please make sure you check on them. I know it may not seem this way right now for many people across our state, but there is always light after darkness. I can assure you we will get through this, and i do invite everyone to offer up a prayer for our state, for the people of our state, that we get through this as soon as possible and in the best possible shape with the least loss of life. You know, property is replaceable. Lives are not. Thats obviously our first order of priority. So im going to stop there and take a few questions. Please feel free to direct your questions to any of the people that we have assembled here, and depending on what you ask me, i may ask them to answer the question anyway. Yes . [ Inaudible Question ] yeah. Its weather dependent, and quite frankly, before the weather gets good enough for us to respond, it will also be dark. What i can tell you is our expectations is we will be ready at First Light Tomorrow Morning to go out, to go to areas we know already have received the most damaging impacts from the storm, principally wind and Storm Surge. You mentioned Grand Isle. I can tell you the video i have seen, the reports that i have received, are just tread amounts of Storm Surge there and wind damage. The good news is i hate to give you a figure, but something like 98 of Grand Isle evacuated, and i believe people who are there stayed back in structures that are specifically built to withstand these times of forces. I have No Doubt we will see extreme devastation, but we will likely be sometime after First Light before we can get up in the air and get vehicles down there. And, of course, youve got to travel i dont know if you saw the video, but l. A. 1 was not in good shape. In all likelihood traveling to Grand Isle and elsewhere, in that vicinity, probably by helicopter. [ Inaudible Question ] okay. So i can tell you tier 1 hospitals have been evacuated. By definition, we want hospitals, some behavioral health hospitals, and these are typically much smaller. The patients needs are not quite as acute, and we have evacuated four such hospitals. Sim im on it, we have evacuated 22 nursing homes, 18 Assisted Living Facility and 61 intermediate Care Facilities as well. No hospitals have been evacuated, the tier 1, because quite simply put, theres nowhere to bring them. They need that setting, and we dont have the capacity elsewhere. I mentioned yesterday that over the previous 11 days or so, weve been able to achieve a 21 reduction in our covid Inpatient Census across the state of louisiana. The good news is almost all of that happened in southeast louisiana. But theres still 2,450 Covid Patients in our hospitals across the state, in addition to all the other patients who remains in our hospitals. That is a much higher number than we ever experienced in the first three surges. So its still a very daunting situation, and quite frankly were concerned, as we have been for a long time, about staffing, but they storms have an impact on staffing, too, in terms of do they have to evacuate with their family for some reason . Does their home remain habitable so they can live at home and go to work . We have snow higher priority than to make sure or hospitals can remain in operation and functional. Thats going to be a challenge, because we expect widespread Power Outage for some time. We know they have generators. We know they have stocked up on fuel, water and food, and on pharmaceuticals, things like oxygen and so forth, but quite frankly, we know that the longer the power stays out, the more challenging this will be, and the more devastation in an area, the harder it will be for the staffing that they need. One of the challenges is we had additional staff coming in from out of State Yesterday pursuant to contracts we had executed. The Staff Wasnt able to get in, because they didnt have a place to stay. There wasnt a Hotel Room open anywhere. All right, everybody, we are listening to the governor of louisiana, giving us an update saying people will be tested in ways we can only imagine. Right now we are taking a live look at Fema Headquarters, where we are awaiting president Joe Biden. He is there. He will receive a briefing. Of course its been a busy day with the president. Hes been dealing with twin, really triple crises today. We had the dignified transfer of victims from kabul earlier today. And we see the president stepping up. Were going to listen in. Just really quickly, this is the national response coordinate center, where we have 22 Enter Agency Partners that have been gathered here since earlier in the week to support the preparedness efforts, as we as any other states that might be impacted. As you know, it did make landfall as a strong category 4 hurricanes here, and we are expecting catastrophic impacts from them. I have spoken to both the mayor of new orleans, as well as the governor the louisiana just a few hours ago, and we have attempts embedded with that so we can respond quickly as soon as we know the impacts. We wont have the real picture until tomorrow. Then we can start moving additional resources in. With that, ill give it to the president. Thank you. Well, folks, youve got your hands full, but you have done an incredible job so far in prepping this. Jill and i are just getting back from Dover Air force base, where we met with the families of 13 fallen heroes from afghanistan, who lost their lives for the service of our country. While we were praying for the best in louisiana, lets keep them in our prayers as well. Ive just been briefed by fema leadership, and we have real leadership, on Hurricane Ida on the preparations for rescue and response. The storm has made, as you know better than anyone, but im speaking to the public as large, The Storm Made Landfall a few hours ago. It continues to rage and ravage everything it comes in contact with. The storm is a lifethreatening storm. Governor edwards, an old friend, has characterized it as the strongest in La Ha history since 1850. Its devastation is likely to be immense. We shouldnt kid ourselves. The most important thing i should say is, everyone, everyone should listen to the instructions from local and state officials just how dangerous this is, and take it seriously. Its not just the coast, its not just new orleans, its north as well. The rainfall is expected to be exceedingly high. To the people of the gulf coast, i want you to know were praying for the best and planning, preparing for the worst. As soon as the storm passes, we will put the countrys full might behind the rescue to recovery. Im no expert, but ive been for a lot of hurricanes. I dont think weve ever had as much preparation, longterm preparation with the Levee Systems, and preparation here thanks to the Administrators Leadership and the hard work of the fema team, many of whom are gathered behind me. We have already prepositioned resources that we know will be needed, and Equipment And Response teams in the region. This includes 2. 5 million meals, 3 Million liters of water. Weve been generators in place, and were in close touch with the Power Providers to get and restore power as soon as possible, because a lot of it is going to go out. We should be pared that it can take a long time, no matter how much we preposition, some we have, that its going to take a long time for it to get back up. Weve got 13 urban searchandrescue teams. These teams make up about 70 people with experts in each team, and they can do real serious recovery work. More than 100 ambulances and emergency medical teams have been activated. Were working with the Red Cross to open dozens and dozens of shelters to support those we need to evacuate. That will happen mostly in the Morn Part of the state and maybe parts of mississippi. I have already signed a Emergency Declare aches for both louisiana, as well as mississippi. I want to make sure we are ready to surge all the response capacity, capability that we have with whatever comes next. Ive been in touch with the governors of alabama, Mississippi And Louisiana. And my team has been in touch with other states, local and federal officials, in the region. They know theres the full resources and support of the federal governments. I want to emphasize again, this is going to be a devastating hurricane. A lifethreatening storm, so please, all you folks and in Mississippi And Louisiana and god knows, maybe even further east, take precautions. Listen. Take it seriously, really very seriously. You know, the whole of Government Effort is ready to get to work. And in advance of an obvious significant natural disaster. Were going to be here to help the Gulf Region get back on its feet as possible, as long as it takes. So, thank you, may god protect those in the path of the Storm And God willing, well get through it sooner than later. But dont kid yourself. This will take a lot of resources, a little bit of luck, and as my grandfather would say, the grates of gold and the goodwill of the neighbors. And look out for your neighbors. Thank you very much. Im not supposed to take any questions, but go ahead. Reporter mr. President on im not going to answer afghanistan now. All right, everybody. That was president Joe Biden at Fema Headquarters right now. It looks like hes going to the podium. Thank you, thank you. Theres no group of americans who know how dangerous it is more than you guys. Youve done everything you can, but i tell you what, well be looking at additional Levee Systems. Thank you so much. So the president offered to take a question, somebody asked about afghanistan, he said im not going to talk about afghanistan right now, but the president getting a briefing on Hurricane Ida, saying the devastation is likely to be immense, and he said this isnt just new orleans, this Rain Track will be widespread. He said ones that storm clears, he commits the countrys full might to sending in help, recoveries, rescue, whatever it might look like. He also warned it could take week to restore power in some areas. Our crew, if you were watching earlier, had to divert. There was a tree blocking the roadway. Of course the governor of louisiana has said stay off the roadways. We want to get right now to ken graham, director at the national Hurricane Center to talk about where the storm is going. We know it made landfall. I believe the track is barreling toward houma, it looks like Baton Rouge may be in its sights. What more can you tell you . Absolutely. You maybe such a good point. Just because we made landfall doesnt mean were doing with it yet. With time, it will continue to move inland. So overnight Baton Rouge could see the hurricaneforce winds. Just because youre not on the coast doesnt mean you wont get some of these serious impacts. So we have covered the winds here. Lets talk about the rainfall. This morning you were really concerned about the forecast, anywhere from 12 to 20 inches, which is truly mindboggling. Are your Mod Els showing the sae numbers . They do. As the storm moves to the north, what happens is you see the same areas, these rain bands. This is a hurricane, the whole rotation is fast, but notice, no eastwest movement. All of that goes over the same area over a long period of time. Look how it presents north were. Look at center mississippi, up to nashville, even up to portions of tennessee. You look at west virginia, kentucky, any one of these areas could see a significant amount of tropical rain. So you mentioned midweek here, lasting effects. Lets talk about the critical hours ahead. Were still not done with the Storm Surge. Some of it comes in initially, but as it moves so slowly, you still get the fetch of wind behind it. Everyone has to really be careful. Just because you havent had your Storm Surge yet doesnt mean it wont be in the future. Stay safe through the night. All right. We want to turn to houma, louisiana, its where we find morgan chesky. I see the rain falling. I saw your hit in the last hour. I thought you were going to have to retreat it got so bad. What are things like right now . Its continues to get worse. We know the eyewall of ida is continues to stay on that consistent track. The intensity of these winds only gets stronger. Were seeing Property Damage in every direction. As the winds stay strong, its going to be an absolutely long night ahead for everyone who chose to stay here. Mandatory evacuations established for terrebone parish, but the Fire Marshal estimates only about 60 of the people were able to get out. Sorry, im watching some trees to make sure nothing blows down. The wind is going to be the main concern and Power Outages could last into the days, potentially weeks ahead. There are lowlying areas here in houma, also in Morgan City just down the road. Thats only seven feet above sea levels, so expect some Storm Surge issues there, about you the fires are saying their Chain Saws are out and as soon as it gets safe enough for them to go into the neighborhoods and start checking on people, we plan on cutting treats or of poles and checking Power Lines. Theres wind whipping debris. We want to make sure you and your crew are safe, but we want to highlight something, you said if 40 have stayed, that means by 44,000 people are riding out the storm in that parish alone. Are you seeing any, god forbid, cars On The Road . Any activity . The only people On The Roads right now look tore Storm Chaser at this point. Thats an absolutely good thing to here. Nobody has any business being out in this business right now. Its only getting worse, lindsey. As frustrating as its been to see the damage that ida has already brought here, its whats to come that certainly gives you pause. Morgan chesky, please stay safe. We have to bring in general russel honore, who was the commander of the task force katrina, and a native of louisiana. Good to talk with you. We heard the governor the louisiana just a few minutes aGo On our air saying, overtopping isnt the same thing as leveed failure. Can you explain what he mean by that . Yeah, that means the levee maintains its beity and the water flows over. When it fails, you have a hole in it, and thats what you saw in katrina. It overtops because of surge or rainfall, whereas Levee Failure theres a hole in the levee. Talk about how dangerous overtopping is as well. When were talking about Storm Surges, you know, the levee may not be able to stop that. How dangerous of a condition is this right now . Well, thats a good point. Down along the coast where youre having a surge, theres a lot of 10 and 12foot levee or dikes, or berms as we call them, but if you get a 12foot tidal serve, thats what overtopping means. Now you have to pump the water out, because the levee is to hold water in when it gets inside, so its a complex operation. The governor of louisiana says the state of louisiana is not the same stay that it was 16 years ago, so lieutenant general, are you confident in this system right now . Well, i agree with the governor. Were more resilient with the amount of Infrastructure Improvements that were made in the Levee Systems in and around new orleans, and along the coast with the coastal protection procedures that have been put in with gates and locks to try and control that water. But Mother Nature can break anything built by man. If you can keep it out of new orleans, but it may go to slidell if Theres Pressure on it. So we still have the worst part of the storm in front of us. I know its caused some destruction along the coast, but the bigger part of the population, our Oil And Gas industry is going to be significantly impacted with that forward push on, and theres about 150 chemical plants in the area, much of it is tied to industrial production here in america and around the world. And we could have Pollution Problems in those plants if that infrastructure failed and the eye of the storms comes through the alley. Lieutenant general honore, thank you so much for your time. Let me say this. People please help the volunteers. We have the red crowd out there, a lot of charities will be needed to help people in the coming days. If you cant go out and volunteer, please donate. Thank you very much. Thank you so much for that message. We appreciate it. We want to bring in right now Mayor Lee Dragna of Morgan City, louisiana. First, good afternoon to you, mayor. Are you safe right now . I see youre in a car. No, no, i cant evacuate. Im considered central personnel. The wind is blowing about 50, 60 miles an hour, im assessing Power Outages, so we know what we have to deal with once the storm passes. What are you seeing right now as youre driving around . Are you seeing other drivers On The Road . Are you seeing debris . I see some Storm Chasers around. I see debris. We had a few trees topple, split in half. Our Fire Department got them out of the way. It was a main route through town, but right now all of our first responders a hunkered. We dont want to downplay at all whats happening, but we no that Morgan City was expected to be the houma of louisiana, where the storm was going to really set its strongest impacts on. You guys obviously will still be impacted, but you told residents this would be devastating, but you also stopped short of issuing a mandatory evacuation order. Why is that . And why dont you have any shelters in your city . This was a call on the parish about the mandatory evacuation. I wanted to, they didnt want to, we didnt have an Evacuation Shelter under contract, so we couldnt do it. It was too late by the time they decided to do it. So we didnt call a mandatory evacuation. What are your biggest concerns, mayor, as we look into the next 12 and 24 hours here . Electricity. Were okay with our pumping district. We have a great levee system. Our Levee And Drain system, the pumps are working good. The state was very gracious and send us six or eight huge pumps, set them all up. Were good. Were in a Bowl Kind of like new orleans, but we can get it out pretty quick. Its more the people that have, you know, oxygen tanks, machines from this covid we have a lot of Althougher Covid patients here, and they need electricity to run these machines. Well have to deal with that as soon as this storm is over. 2400 Covid Patients in hospital in your state, according to the governor. Mayor, best of luck. Thank you so much for joining us on a busy and dangerous day. 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You see some wind in the treats, and this is why theres been that curfew in place since 8 00 a. M. This morning. This is why officials are going through Weve Seen Officers go through Highway 80 here, the main road along the beach. Officers telling people to hunker down. Threat of flash floods, things falling down, Tree Limbs coming down, so theres definitely that concern will, despite the moment of reprieve. For that reason, the shelters have been opened all across the county, a place impacted severely by hurricane katrina, and for some people its a scar that is still pretty fresh. Lets listen to one gentleman who sought refuse this morning told me. Trying to compare it to hurricane katrina, so if thats the case, man, im trying to get out of the way. I aint going to take a risk. I was staying in orange grove area, but still it got bad every, man. Reporter weve also been in contact with the police department. They sent out a notification for residents here, saying once winds get above 45 miles an hour, they will hunker down themselves and will not respond. I saw an Officer Drive by about ten minutes ago, so i dont think were there yet, but they want thats why theyre telling people to stay back. It count be safe for them to help you once those winds pick up. This is not even the main trajectory of the hurricane. Were on the outer parts. Louisiana, as a state, is getting battered by this. If these are the effects on the outskirts, you can only imagine what folks are going through in louisiana along the path of the eye of the extort. Such a good point, shaq. Youre holding on to something, bracing, meanwhile, talking about people entering the water. Definitely dangerous. You and your crew stay safe. Thank you so much. Sam brock is in Baton Rouge. Im sure youre watching the reports from your colleagues, seeing whats headed for you, but im not sure that the residents there are also watching, because youve been driver an and nobody is boarded up. Reporter they may have been watching, but certainly not feeling it with the same sense of urgency. Were about 60, 70 miles away from houma. We are not yet experiencing those effects from the storm. In fact itsing relatively calm. Were getting gusts, but i am told between the hours of 7 00 p. M. And 1 00 p. M. , it will be hellacious here, as the core is expected to go right over Baton Rouge. The Louisiana Guard have deployed many guardsmen, including 34 helicopters. Fema talking about the way theres almost two dozens agencies collaborating to help with rescue operations, and certainly 2. 5 million tons of water. So supplies are flowing in. We did speak to a couple men near lsu, former members of the armed services, talking about the fact theyre not worried, because we are inland. Heres what they told me. Have you considered evacuating . No. Reporter how come. I believe were far enough inland. 20, 30 miles north. Weave through pretty serious hurricanes. Just hope and prepare. You deal with the situation as it comes. Thats all you can do. Roll with the punches, i guess. Reporter so they were obviously more casual, and imagine in this circumstance, im going to leave you with one tidbit. Cared to hurricane katrina, they crisscross in the path, but very, very close, within 50 miles, it just so happens that katrina was east of new orleans, whereas ida is west. Katrina was so massive. This is a very, very large storm. Everybody is just holdling their breath to see what happens. While sam has been talking, were seeing in the upper righthand screen shot, that is in new orleans. You can see right now the conditions here. Weve got Heavy Rain. It looks like the car is stopped. The water is cascading off the windshield there. We want to go to the heart of new orleans, because hospitals that are in the path of this hurricanes are in a specially tough position. Theyre continues to deal with an inflection of covid19 patients as this hurricane is bearing down. I want to bring in dr. Gross, chief the the Childrens Hospital in new orleans. We heard the governor saying, yes, they have evacuated nursing homes, assisted living facilities, but you cant necessarily evacuate these level 1 hospitals, because theres nowhere else for these patients to go. Yes, thats right. Thank you for having me. So we had prepared at the hospital, given events like this with some amount of lead time, were able to secure our facilities. We are currently having some construction on site, on our crews also secured that. We were prepared to have enough fuel for our generators, potable water, and secure the things around the building so we can take care of the 120 patients we currently have in house. How is that holding up . So far so good. Were inside watching the same footage youre showing right now. We know we have several more hours of this, but so far our space is holding tight, definitely our staff is ready to weather the storm here. You are in a unique position in a Childrens Hospital, because we know the state of louisiana is dealing with what the governor says the worst surge we have seen so far. In fact 2400 patients in hospitals across your state. We know the Delta Variant has affected children. We have seen more children become sick with covid. For you and your colleagues, how do you plan for potential people coming in with injuries from the hurricane, any emergencies that might arise, as well as taking care of Covid Patients, and im assuming very few beds. Covid19 has become part of our routine Hospital Operations now, over the past more than one year. Were handling today like every day. Every time we have a patient come in with serious injuries, were all prepared with our ppe to treat everyone as presumed positive until we know otherwise. I think we have not really had to alter our operation, because its become such standard practice for us. Dr. Toni gross, we know youre still in for a few hours. We wish you the best. Thank you for taking time today. Thanks so much for having me. New orleans residents are bracing for really a lot of flooding from Hurricane Ida. Weve been seeing the rain fall down. Joining me is nick stolts, who lives in the irish bayou, a region unprotected by the Levee Systems. We know that i have evacuated. Youre in a safe place. Talk to us about where you went and what that process was like. We hear some twohour trips were taking as long as nine hours yes, im in houston in my daughter, in a very nice hout. I went and picked up my grandson from long beach, brought him with me, along with my wife. We knew from katrina that the traffic would you say bad, so we left at midnight. We missed the traffic. It was much busier traffic than normal, but we didnt have waits like that. I know youre very concerned about your home. Every storm you get you see acres of land disappear. And that the highway in your home will be unusable with Storm Surges of eight feet or more. What do you think youll go home to . Well, my house is 18 feet up. With katrina, all the houses above 12 or 13 feet were still there. So i think my house is going to still be there, i possibly could have some Roof Damage or some other siding and stuff, damage from the winds, but i dont think the floodwaters will get in my house because its so high. For katrina, the floodwaters underneath my house were 12 feet, so i had about six feet left. We hope when you come back you can recognize your hometown and obviously our best to you and your family. Still ahead, our Hurricanes Coverage continues after the break. 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