New Orleans has been plunged into darkness after Hurricane Ida caused 'catastrophic transmission damage'.
The city of almost 400,000 people is relying on generators alone as the category four storm moves across the US carving a destructive path.
On the sixteenth anniversary of Hurricane Katrina, Ida made landfall.
It slammed into Louisiana and the Mississippi Coast with destructive winds of 240 kilometres per hour and the storm shows no sign of slowing down.
"If you had to draw up the worst possible path for a hurricane in Louisiana, it would be something very, very close to what we're seeing," Louisiana Governor John Bel Edwards says.
On the streets of New Orleans residents made hurried last-minute preparations for the storm.
The city is all-too-familiar with the devastating impact of weather events with such power.
Hurricane Katrina hit the city in 2005 killing more than 1000 people and causing $100 billion dollars in damage.
New Orleans Mayor LaToya warned residents to "stay inside" as the storm rattles the city.
"Now is the time that we have been preparing for and even waiting for."
As thousands were evacuated while they still could still safely, others chose to stick it out in their homes, while some had no choice.
Instead they were forced to wait and watch as damage right across the state became more clear.
President Joe Biden has vowed to put the country's 'full might' behind the recovery.
"We're going to be here, we're going to be here to help the Gulf region, and get back on its feet as quickly as possible, as long as it takes."
But with Ida still carving a destructive path, the clean up and the scale of it remains unclear.
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