Hurricane Ida Forces Mississippi River To Flow Backward

YouTube / USA Today

This weekend’s deadly hurricane struck the coast of Louisiana with such force that it actually made America’s second-largest river reverse the direction of its flow.

Among the rare and odd changes Hurricane Ida made to the local waterways, the storm also decimated homes and buildings throughout New Orleans and caused a massive power outage across the city.

According to NOLA.com Hurricane Ida forced a large transmission tower to collapse into the Mississippi River. Officials say that a fix could take several days to complete.

The storm made landfall with such force that water in levees swelled by more than a foot and even breached the top of some – like the one near the town of Braithwaite as shown by KATV’s Todd Yakoubian below.

The Category 4 storm (at landfall) blasted its way ashore – becoming one of the most powerful storms to ever strike the United States. The impact shredded roofs of buildings and even pushed so much water into the mouth of the Mississippi River that it started to flow backward!

Winds from the storm barreled into the coastline at more than 120 MPH and churned the coastal waters into a swirling, swelling mass that pushed deep into the Mississippi’s path.

As of publishing time, only one death had been recorded by officials, yet rescue and recovery efforts remain underway and that total can change. We pray for all the people affected by this terrible disaster.

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