Louisiana braces for powerful hurricane as COVID-19 taxes hospitals

NEW ORLEANS: Hurricane Ida was expected to make landfall in the U.S. on Sunday as an "extremely dangerous" Category 4 storm that could plunge much of the Louisiana shoreline under water as the state grapples with a COVID-19 surge already taxing hospitals.

The storm intensified faster than officials had predicted on Saturday, as residents of the Gulf Coast evacuated and businesses shut down. Southern Louisiana is still reeling from the effects of Hurricane Laura from a year ago. The state also has the third-highest incidence of COVID-19 cases per 100,000 people in the U.S over the past seven days.