Hurricane Ida traps Louisianans, shatters the power grid

NEW ORLEANS: Rescuers in boats, helicopters and high-water trucks brought hundreds of people trapped by Hurricane Ida's floodwaters to safety Monday and utility repair crews rushed in, after the furious storm swamped the Louisiana coast and ravaged the electrical grid in the stifling, late-summer heat.

Residents living amid the maze of rivers and bayous along the state's Gulf Coast retreated desperately to their attics or roofs and posted their addresses on social media with instructions for search-and-rescue teams on where to find them. More than 1 million homes and businesses in Louisiana and Mississippi - including all of New Orleans - were left without power as Ida, one of the most powerful Hurricanes ever to hit the U.S. mainland, pushed through on Sunday.