Note: This live blog for Sunday, August 29 is no longer being updated. For the latest updates on Hurricane Ida and its aftermath, stay with KXAN and KXAN.com.
(KXAN) — Exactly 16 years after Hurricane Katrina hit the city of New Orleans, Hurricane Ida made landfall Sunday around noon as the strongest storm to hit Louisiana on record.
Mandatory evacuations have been ordered for parts of New Orleans residents living outside the levee protection. For the rest of the city, evacuation is voluntary.
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott put storm resources at the ready on Friday, and told southeast and east Texans to prepare for potential heavy rain, flooding, high winds, and potential extended power outages in the event that Hurricane Ida moves west.
The following live blog will be updated as KXAN Meteorologist David Yeomans and photojournalist Frank Martinez monitor the storm and its impact.
Stay with KXAN, KXAN.com and if you don’t have it already, download our free KXAN Weather App for forecast updates as we gather new information over the coming days. Interests along the upper Texas coast should stay hurricane-aware just in case.
10:35 p.m. Sunday
The Ascension Parish Sheriff’s Office said on Facebook that deputies responded to a home in Prairieville on a report of someone injured by a fallen tree. The person, who was not identified, was pronounced dead. Prairieville is a suburb of Baton Rouge, Louisiana’s capital city.
9:35 p.m. Sunday
A unique and rarely used warning was issued several times as Hurricane Ida moved through southeastern Louisiana on Sunday — an Extreme Wind Warning.
KXAN Meteorologist Nick Bannin explains when this alert gets issued in the latest KXAN weather blog.
8:20 p.m. Sunday
All of New Orleans Parish was without power Sunday night due to “catastrophic transmission damage,” power company Entergy said.
The city’s Office of Homeland Security & Emergency Preparedness said on Twitter that Entergy confirmed that New Orleans has no power, and that the only power in the city was coming from generators.
7:30 p.m. Sunday
As Hurricane Ida moves north through Louisiana as a Category 3 storm, KXAN’s David Yeomans and Frank Martinez were able to survey some of the damage from Houma, La. The eye of the storm moved right past Houma Sunday afternoon.
A local law enforcement officer told Yeomans he has a list of people who need help following the storm.
6 p.m. Sunday
Hurricane Ida has weakened to a Category 3 storm as it moves north through Louisiana Sunday night.
5 p.m. Sunday
KXAN Meteorologist David Yeomans captured photos and videos of some damage near his post in Houma, Louisiana. These photos appear to be after the inner eyewall passed over the area.
3:50 p.m. Sunday
Hurricane Ida has caused tree damage and power outages in Houma, Louisiana. The inner eyewall of storm is the most intense part of the storm and is near Houma at 3:45 p.m. The eye of the hurricane, which will be calm and may even provide some sunshine, should be over the area by 5 p.m. Sunday.
3:30 p.m. Sunday
3:15 p.m. Sunday
The inner eyewall of Hurricane Ida is approaching KXAN’s crew. Meteorologist David Yeomans says the clearing in the eye isn’t a perfect circle. It looks like flower petals rotating around it. Those are called mesovortices — which are only in the most powerful hurricanes.
2:50 p.m. Sunday
Houma Police Department tells KXAN Weather Chief David Yeomans at the weather team’s location in Houma, Louisiana, that there have been calls of downed trees and power lines, in addition to roof damage. No injuries are reported yet. Power is down in the area, Yeomans says. While Ida is still a Category 4 hurricane, winds are around 145 mph.
1:45 p.m. Sunday
KXAN Weather Chief David Yeomans reports hurricane-force winds in Houma, Louisiana — about an hour and a half outside of New Orleans. The most tumultuous parts of the storm are just miles away.
12:05 p.m. Sunday
Hurricane Ida made landfall as a Category 4 hurricane at around noon Sunday, CNN reports. Landfall happened near Port Fourchon, Louisiana with winds of up to 150 mph.
11 a.m. Sunday
KXAN Weather Chief David Yeomans reports 50 mph winds in Houma, Louisiana — about an hour and a half outside of New Orleans. Hurricane Ida should begin picking up even more very soon.
9 a.m. Sunday
8 a.m. Sunday
The storm is only seven miles away from being Category 5 (155 mph). Aside from Laura last year, the National Hurricane Center predicts it will be the strongest hurricane since 1856 to hit Louisiana. Winds will be tornado-strength for hours, KXAN’s Weather team explains.
The damage could also very likely be “an ecological disaster,” KXAN Weather Chief Meteorologist David Yeomans explained from Houma, Louisiana. Oil ports and tanks along the coast of Louisiana could cause extreme damage to the terrain.
7 a.m. Sunday
Ida is still moving at 150 mph, but the storm is now projected to reach 155 mph, just two mph shy of Category 5.
8 p.m. Saturday
KXAN Meteorologist David Yeomans and photojournalist Frank Martinez are south of New Orleans in Cocodrie, Louisiana — at the door step of the Gulf of Mexico.
Local law enforcement told Yeomans that water may be 10 to 15-feet high in this area Sunday as Ida makes landfall.
See the latest on this Category 2 storm in the video above.
6 p.m. Saturday
KXAN’s crew is Houma, Louisiana, which is expected to be near the eye of Hurricane Ida once it makes landfall on the Louisiana coast.
The streets of Houma were mostly empty — as were the gas stations in the city.
4 p.m. Saturday
KXAN Meteorologist David Yeomans has arrived in New Orleans. A hefty portion of the departure board at Louis Armstrong New Orleans International Airport shows canceled flights.
Yeomans noted that most shops and restaurants are closed inside of the airport.
2 p.m. Saturday
In Louisiana, traffic stalled in Lake Charles as drivers headed west toward the Texas border on Interstate 10.
1 p.m. Saturday
KXAN Photojournalist Frank Martinez didn’t even make it to Louisiana before seeing traffic build up along his route.
As he drove east from Austin, he saw heavy traffic built up on I-10 in Beaumont.
(KXAN/Photojournalist Frank Martinez) 
(KXAN/Photojournalist Frank Martinez)
Heavy traffic buildup along I-10 in Louisiana could also be seen around noon from Texas Department of Transportation’s cameras.
The Texas Division of Emergency Management has been asking Texas residents to be prepared as southeast and eastern portions of the state could experience high winds associated with the storm’s landfall.
