Hurricane Ida was a Category 4 major hurricane that made landfall in Louisiana on August 29 2021. Ida originally made landfall in Cuba as a Category 1 storm, before striking Louisiana and becoming an extratropical low that caused severe and deadly flooding and heavy rainfall in the northeastern United States.

After Ida made landfall in Louisiana, by September 2 Ida had moved north-eastward through the mid-Atlantic region. By the time the storm moved northeastward to New Jersey, just south of Long Island, New York, the system gained gale force winds over the Atlantic. Ida gained strength and hit Nova Scotia, before becoming a remnant low for two days, and finally dissipating on September 4. Rainfall rates in the mid-Atlantic and Northeastern regions of the U.S reached near or above three inches per hour. This extreme rainfall caused devastating flash floods in urban locations around New York City and northern New Jersey.

In total, Ida’s rain, wind, storm surges and tornadoes caused $75 billion dollars in damages. $55 billion of that amount occurred in Louisiana, from damages relating to storm surge and wind. Casualties both directly and indirectly related to Ida totaled 87 in the United States, most occurring in the Gulf Coast and Mid-Atlantic phases of the storm.