Louisiana is the eye of the Tropical storm Ida

 Hurricane  Ida level four has hit the land fall in Louisiana. Tropical storm Ida  generated a tropical storm warning of New Orleans and a state of emergency ofr the state of Louisiana as it pushes across the Caribbean and Cuba.

“Unfortunately all of  Louisiana’s coastline is currently in the forecast cone for tropical storm  Ida. which could come ashore in Louisiana as a major hurricane as Gulf conditions are conductive for rapid intensification”, said Governor John Bel Edwards said. The US National Hurricane Centre said Ida was expected to cross  the tobacco-rich western stretch of Cuba as a tropical storm is brewing  Friday afternoon and then strengthen before reaching the Gulf coast Late Sunday or early Monday. “There is an increasing life-threatening  storm surge, damaging hurricane-force winds,  and heavy rainfall on Sunday and Monday especially along the coast of Louisiana” The Hurricane Centre said.

A hurricane-watch was in effect for Cameron, Louisiana, to the Mississippi-Alabama border – including Lake Pontchartrain, Lake Maurepas and metropolitan New Orleans.

The mayor of Grand Isle, a Louisiana town on a narrow barrier island in the Gulf, called for a voluntary evacuation late Thursday ahead of Ida.and said a mandatory evacuation will take effect on Friday. 

Late Thursday Ida had picked up maximum winds of 40mph (65kmph)  and was travelling north-west at about 12 mph ( 19kmph)