Hurricane Ida: US Gulf Coast prepares for ‘dangerous’ storm

Storm is expected to make US landfall late on Sunday, bringing heavy downpour, tidal surge and 225kmph winds to region.

Authorities on the Gulf Coast of the United States have issued more dire warnings as Hurricane Ida is expected to bring heavy rains, a tidal surge across much of the Louisiana shoreline and winds of up to 225km per hour (140mph) to the region this weekend. Forecasters said the storm could make a US landfall as an “extremely dangerous” Category 4 storm on the five-step Saffir-Simpson scale. On Saturday morning, Ida was about 700km (435 miles) southeast of Houma, Louisiana, packing top winds of 136kmph (85mph) and tracking towards a late Sunday landfall, the National Hurricane Center (NHC) in Miami said.