HOLDEN – With broken trees scattered around them and pale brown water lapping against their porch, Debbie and Dave Whitehead had little to do but wait.
“The water isn’t coming up yet, but I'm scared it will,” said Debbie Whitehead, leaning against the chipped railing of the house where her husband grew up on Monday morning.
Unbothered by the eight-or-so inches of floodwater, the couple’s small white-and-black dog, Pepper, sniffed at shattered branches strewn across the yard.
Hurricane Ida made landfall in coastal Louisiana Monday afternoon and moved through the Baton Rouge area through the night.
The Whiteheads awoke Monday to what a Livingston Parish emergency director termed “parish-wide devastation,” after Hurricane Ida’s eye wall moved east of Baton Rouge and brought a double-punch of shrieking wind and 10-to-18 inches of rain straight through Livingston and Tangipahoa Parishes.
Felled power lines sagged down and splintered pine trees blocked roads in all areas of the rural parish on Monday morning, according to Brandi Janes, Livingston’s emergency director.
Torn from the ground by Ida’s 100-plus mile-per-hour gusts, the debris gradually rose into heaping piles along the shoulder of U.S. 190 from Livingston all the way east to Hammond as officials urged residents to avoid roads so work crews and lineman could start the arduous work of cleaning up after Ida.
Crews with the Town of Livingston and residents work to clear S. Rose Street of tree debris at Iowa Street as residents begin to assess damage from Hurricane Ida, Monday, August 30, 2021, in Livingston, La.
Limbs large enough to crush houses lay on some sagging dwellings. A hotel in Hammond lacked a roof. Several houses near Holden High School took on water.
“I had to cut my way out to leave my driveway,” said Jerry Wilson, 78, a public works employee in the Town of Livingston who was helping clear a pile of woody debris from South Rose St. Monday morning.
“I’m almost 80 years old, and I’ve seen a lot of ‘em,” Wilson added. “This one was the worst.”
Drivers navigate around fallen power lines and tree debris along US 190 as members of the community begin to assess damage from Hurricane Ida, Monday, August 30, 2021, in Livingston, La.
The hurricane’s impact put much of the Florida Parishes under an emergency flash-flood warning Monday, later downgraded to a flash-flood advisory, as rising waters endangered parts of eastern and southern Tangipahoa and eastern Livingston parishes.
The warning from the National Weather Service applied to Tickfaw, Hammond and Ponchatoula as well as Livingston, Albany, Springfield, Natalbany, Robert, Whitehall and Killian.
NWS described the flooding as "life-threatening," and urged people not to drive unless to escape the water. "This is a particularly dangerous situation," the notice said. "Seek higher ground now!"
Standing water remains around a residence at the Blackwell Mobile Home Park along US 190 as members of the community begin to assess damage from Hurricane Ida, Monday, August 30, 2021, in Livingston, La.
Ditches and parts of the shoulder on U.S. 190, near the Whiteheads’ home and just west of the town of Albany, flooded on Monday as the Tickfaw River and associated nearby waterways grew too swollen with liquid from Ida’s sweep inland to stay within their banks.
Often rooted in memories of the devastation spurred by flooding that placed some 85% of the parish underwater in 2016, residents expressed fear and uncertainty over whether the surplus of liquid would enter their homes in the days ahead.
At Blackwells Mobile Home Park between Albany and Livingston, as patches of blue sky emerged overhead and light wind hummed, property owner Delos Blackwell plowed through waters that rose halfway up the tires of his ATV.
Delos Blackwell drives his ATV with passenger Roy Keiser as he inspects his mobile home park along US 190 as members of the community begin to assess damage from Hurricane Ida, Monday, August 30, 2021, in Livingston, La.
“I think the water is coming up,” he said, “but I don’t know if it’ll get as bad as we did in ‘16.”
Whether the fears of Blackwell and the Whiteheads would be realized and water flood into their homes appeared uncertain Monday, with more rain approaching and standing water lapping just below the doorways of residences at both locations.
In a Weather Channel interview early Monday, Tangipahoa Parish President Robby Miller urged people to keep hunkering down as crews clear the roads of dangerous power lines and other debris.
"We strongly encourage citizens to stay put in order to stay safe and allow our crews to assess damage in our parish," he said. "Water is still dangerously high in some areas and there are many trees and power lines down that pose a threat to our citizens."
Miller said he wants people to treat every downed powerline as if it's hot and to keep the roads to allow emergency workers reach people who need help.
Residents begin to assess damage on S. Satsuma Road following Hurricane Ida, Monday, August 30, 2021, in Livingston, La.
Communication came to a grinding halt for officials and residents alike on Monday, as the majority of the Baton Rouge region lacked power and cell service.
Livingston Parish Sheriff Jason Ard had to cut himself out of his Springfield home to make it to the sheriff’s office on Frost Road, according to his spokeswoman, Lori Steele — a feat that took him all day.
In an echo of the 2016 storm, most AT&T customers across Livingston Parish lost all cell phone service after the storm and began to panic, Livingston Parish President Layton Ricks said.
A large tree rests on a home along US 190 as members of the community begin to assess damage from Hurricane Ida, Monday, August 30, 2021, in Albany, La.
He told people in a video message to stay calm amid communication and water access shortfalls alike. "Everyone’s having communication issues and water issues," he said, “and with power, period.”
Scattered rescues of residents trapped in houses by trees were underway throughout the day on Monday, according to Steele.
Monday's flash-flood warning came as officials had barely begun to assess the hurricane's impact — and as the Florida Parishes are still in the throes of their deadliest outbreak of COVID-19, which has already placed an enormous burden on local paramedics, hospitals and clinics.
The capital region woke up to widespread damage in the wake of Hurricane Ida.
Our Lady of the Lake’s Livingston campus was running on generator power Monday evening. The hospital activated “code grey” care at 6:30 a.m. Sunday, said spokesman Ryan Cross — a system where teams alternate shifts between sleeping at the hospital and caring for patients.
The hospital’s emergency room has been busy with people driving in from storm-ravaged areas and expects instances of heatstroke and injuries resulting from storm repairs to spike in the days ahead.
Asked whether the rise in storm-related patients would affect COVID care, Cross said no. “We’ve stretched our staff time-and-time again, and they respond by providing the kind of care that you expect,” he said.
Kelvin Sevario, left, works to cut up fallen tree limbs on Bahama Drive as his wife, Erin Sevario, walks nearby near US 190 as members of the community begin to assess damage from Hurricane Ida, Monday, August 30, 2021, in Holden, La. ORG XMIT: BAT2108301341201957
In Holden, the Whiteheads have flooded in the past with far less rain and wind than the screeching hurricane brought to their home, Debbie Whitehead said.
Asked how the couple would spend the time they would have to wait to determine how much the water would rise, her husband offered a one-word summary.
“Work,” he said, preparing to clear trees.
Sherryl Varns and David Maggs shared a bucket of melting banana pudding ice cream in front of a boutique in Ponchatoula Monday as the remains …