Tropical Storm — Lower Plaquemines, Louisiana

2009-11-09 to 2009-11-10 · Lower Plaquemines, Louisiana

Event narrative

A 70 year old man drowned in the Mississippi River near Fort Jackson when he attempted to assist two boaters in distress. Unfortunately, elderly man's boat flipped over and he was thrown into the river and drowned. The initial two boaters were rescued.

Wider weather episode

Ida developed from a tropical wave moving over the southwestern Caribbean Sea that spawned an area of low pressure on November 2nd. This low developed into a tropical depression on November 4th and then strengthened into a tropical storm a little later that same day. Ida then increased to hurricane strength on November 5th before shortly thereafter making landfall in Nicaragua. After weakening to a tropical depression while over land in Nicaragua and Honduas, Ida emerged back into the western Caribbean and strengthened into a hurricane once again late on November 7th as it tracked north toward the southern Gulf of Mexico. Ida continued north into the central Gulf of Mexico as a hurricane before weakening to a tropical storm early November 9th as moved into the northern Gulf. The storm briefly became a hurricane once again later that day south of the Mississippi River and then weakened to a tropical storm late on November 9th as it encountered increasing wind shear and cooler waters. Ida moved across the southeast Louisiana and Mississippi coastal waters as a tropical storm late on the 9th and early on the 10th of November. Ida became extratropical on the morning of November 10th and dissiapated over the Florida panhandle on November 11th.

Tropical Storm Ida's effects on coastal areas of southeast Louisiana were relatively minor as the storm weakened as it moved across the coastal waters east of the Mississippi River and only brushed the region. Moderate beach erosion did occur in lower Jefferson Parish where storm surge eroded 100 to 200 feet of beach and cut a new pass through Elmer's Island adjacent to Grand Isle. In addition, on Grand Isle in lower Jefferson Parish two or three homes were threatened when a 1000 foot section of a local levee on the western side of the island collapsed as waters from Barataria Bay began to rise. Several roads were closed due to flooding outside the levee protection system in St. Bernard Parish, and minor flooding occurred in low lying areas of St. Tammany Parish around Lacombe, Bayou Liberty and the Rigolets. One direct fatality occurred in Plaquemines Parish when a man attempting to assist a boat in distress drowned in the Mississippi River near Fort Jackson. The maximum sustained wind recorded in the vicinity of coastal southeast Louisiana was 52 knots at Pilots Station East near the mouth of the Mississippi River. The peak wind gust for the event of 64 knots was recorded at the same location. The storm surge during the event generally ranged from around 2 to 6.5 feet along the southeast Louisiana coast with a maximum of 6.53 feet at Bay Gardene in Plaquemines Parish. Rainfall totals were generally around 1 inch or less. The minimum observed barometric pressure was 1003.9 mb at Pilots Staion East in lower Plaquemines Parish.

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 203941. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.