Hurricane Ida: How Project HOPE is Responding

This page is about a previous emergency response. For the latest on our current emergency response work, click here.

Project HOPE is responding in Louisiana following Hurricane Ida, which made landfall on August 29 as a dangerous Category 4 hurricane with 150 mile-per-hour winds.

Louisiana’s governor has called the damage “catastrophic”: the storm left hundreds of thousands of people in the state without power, with many parts of the state devastated by flooding and wind damage. Many hospitals in the area were already at capacity with COVID-19 patients — now, injuries and power outages from the storm could exacerbate the hurricane’s impact.

Project HOPE has a long history of emergency response in the region, including Hurricane Laura in 2020 and a response to Hurricane Katrina that lasted more than 10 years.

Read on to learn more and how you can help.

Hurricane Ida: What You Need To Know

• Hurricane Ida made landfall in Louisiana as a dangerous Category 4 hurricane, with winds of 150 miles per hour
• The storm caused widespread flooding and wind damage, leaving hundreds of thousands of people without power
• Hospitals in Louisiana are already at capacity due to COVID-19 and now the health needs have increased
• Project HOPE is on the ground providing medical care and delivering additional relief

Widespread Damage Across Louisiana

Hurricane Ida has caused widespread flooding and damage across Louisiana after making landfall on August 29 as a dangerous Category 4 storm. Governor John Bel Edwards said that Ida was the strongest storm to hit Louisiana in more than 150 years, and widespread flooding has been reported in Jefferson Parish, which includes the greater New Orleans area. There are reports of people standing on rooftops or waiting in attics to be rescued as the storm came through.

Many hospitals in Louisiana were already at capacity due to the state’s “highest-ever surge” of COVID-19, and Louisiana’s largest health system reported “significant damage” after the storm.

COVID-19 continues to be a concern in the affected areas as hospitals and their intensive care units are at capacity. More than 2,400 COVID-19 patients are currently hospitalized across the state. Now, transmission is expected to increase following the storm as people are displaced and sheltering in crowded settings or with others outside their households.

Project HOPE has served in the region through multiple disasters, including responses to Hurricane Katrina in 2005 and Hurricane Laura in 2020. Our response to Hurricane Katrina lasted more than 10 years and included medical volunteers from around the country and long-term support for the Delta Health Alliance that serves 400,000 residents in the Mississippi Delta.