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Gov. John Bel Edwards has declared a state of emergency as Tropical Storm Nicholas forms in the Gulf of Mexico. While forecasters anticipate the storm to hit areas of Texas on Monday (September 13), heavy rains and flash flooding could pile onto an already hurting Louisiana just two weeks after deadly Hurricane Ida devastated many communities in the state, per FOX 8 Live.
"The most severe threat to Louisiana is in the Southwest portion of the state, where recovery from Hurricane Laura and the May flooding is ongoing," said Gov. Edwards. "In this area heavy rain and flash flooding are possible. However, it is also likely that all of South Louisiana will see heavy rain this week, including areas recently affected by Hurricane Ida."
Ida made landfall in Southeast Louisiana on August 29 as a powerful category 4 hurricane, leaving a path of destruction in its wake and knocking out power for over a million people, including all of New Orleans. Crews have been working to restore power to all who were impacted, but as of Sunday, more than 130,000 were still experiencing outages.
"This tropical storm has the potential to disrupt some power restoration and recovery work currently underway," he continued. "I encourage anyone who has had recent damage from Ida, Laura, or other disasters to take necessary measures to protect their home or business from additional harm. All Louisianas should pay close attention to this tropical system in the coming days."