NEW ORLEANS, Sept 1, 2021 (BSS/AFP) - Louisiana and Mississippi took stock
Tuesday of the disaster inflicted by powerful Hurricane Ida, as receding
floodwaters began to reveal the full extent of the damage along the US Gulf
Coast and the death toll rose to four.

  New Orleans was under a curfew Tuesday evening, nearly two days after Ida
slammed into the Louisiana coast as a Category 4 storm, exactly 16 years
after devastating Hurricane Katrina -- which killed more than 1,800 people --
made landfall.

  Four deaths have been confirmed as crews began fanning out in boats and
off-road vehicles to search communities cut off by the giant storm. A man was
also missing after apparently being killed by an alligator.

   Mayor LaToya Cantrell said on Twitter she had signed an executive order
mandating an overnight curfew in New Orleans, most of which was still
entirely without power after the storm.

  Images of people being plucked from flooded cars and pictures of destroyed
homes surfaced on social media, while the damage in New Orleans itself
remained limited.

  New Orleans Airport said all incoming and outgoing flights scheduled for
Tuesday were canceled, while airlines had scrapped nearly 200 flights on
Wednesday.

  One person was killed by a falling tree in Prairieville, while a second
victim died trying to drive through floodwaters some 60 miles (95 kilometers)
southeast in New Orleans, officials reported.

  Ida knocked out power for more than a million properties across Louisiana,
according to outage tracker PowerOutage.us, most of which still out Tuesday
evening, leaving residents without air conditioning in late summer.

  But power provider Entergy told New Orleans City Council members Tuesday
morning that some electricity could be restored as early as Wednesday, the
New Orleans Times-Picayune reported.

  The first to see power would likely be hospitals -- many of which are
dealing with a surge of Covid patients -- and sewage and water treatment
centers, the paper reported, saying it could still be days before average
customers were reconnected.

  Entergy had initially said it could take days to even assess the full
extent of the damage. In Mississippi, which has been buffeted by torrential
rain, a road collapse left two people dead and 10 more injured, including
three in critical condition, the state's highway patrol said.

  The death toll is expected to rise further, Louisiana Deputy Governor Billy
Nungesser warned Tuesday, especially in coastal areas directly hit by Ida
where search and rescue operations are ongoing.

  Meanwhile in St. Tammany Parish, police said a 71-year-old man was attacked
and "apparently killed by an alligator while walking in flood waters
following Hurricane Ida."

   - Ida heads northeast -

  President Joe Biden declared a major disaster for Louisiana and
Mississippi, which gives the states access to federal aid.

  Louisiana Governor John Bel Edwards said his state had deployed more than
1,600 personnel for search and rescue operations, while the Pentagon said
over 5,200 personnel from the military, federal emergency management and
National Guard had been activated across several southern states.

  Ida -- now a tropical depression -- was travelling northeast, threatening
the Tennessee and Ohio Valleys. It was expected in the mid-Atlantic on
Wednesday, according to the National Hurricane Center.

  Scientists have warned of a rise in cyclone activity as the ocean surface
warms due to climate change, posing an increasing threat to the world's
coastal communities.