At least two people were killed and more than a million left without power in New Orleans as Hurricane Ida inundated coastal Louisiana on a deadly path through the Gulf Coast that threatened more destruction and saw evacuees cram into shelters, prompting fears of a spike in Covid-19 cases.
Ida is one of the most powerful hurricanes ever to hit the US. It had been classified as an extremely dangerous Category 4 hurricane when it made landfall on Sunday, forcing those who did not flee their homes to brace themselves for the worst. It was downgraded to a tropical storm as it made its way inland on Monday.
President Joe Biden declared Hurricane Ida a major disaster on Monday and ordered federal aid to help recovery efforts and preemptively declared Mississippi to be in a state of emergency.
Speaking from the headquarters of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) in Washington on Monday, Mr Biden spoke with Louisiana Governor John Bel Edwards and Tate Reeves, governor of Mississippi, where the storm is now heading.
"You have the full resources of this government behind you. As soon as the storm passes, we're going to put the country's full might behind the rescue and recovery," Mr Biden said.
Ida was blamed for at least one death in Baton Rouge when a man was hit by a falling tree and another in New Orleans when a motorist drowned, but Mr Edwards predicts the number of causalities to rise.
"The damage here is catastrophic and we are still in search-and-rescue mode," said Mr Edwards.
"The rescue areas are clogged with downed trees and power lines and that's making it difficult to get to people. We're just now responding to 911 calls that came in last night because of the phones not working."
Rescuers have saved at least 671 people by Monday afternoon, Mr Edwards said.
Slower winds meant that Ida lingered longer in one place, battering large trees and parts of the infrastructure such as power lines and mobile phone towers, damaging them beyond repair.
Mr Edwards estimated that at least two million homes are without power and stressed the main priority was getting the state's hospitals back online.
Four Louisiana hospitals were damaged and 39 medical facilities were operating on generator power, and more than 2,200 evacuees were staying in 41 shelters as of Monday morning, a number expected to rise as people were rescued or escaped from flooded homes. Authorities feared a spike of Covid-19 cases as residents crammed into shelters.
Water services for about 255,000 people went out of service after the storm, the state health department said on Monday.
Mandatory evacuations were issued across several areas on Friday, including for those living outside the levee system in New Orleans, but not the city's residents. The levees, so far, have held and were reinforced after Katarina.
“The one good news here, the good news this morning anyway, all of our levee systems performed extremely well, especially the hurricane risk reduction system around New Orleans and even non-federal levees in Lafourche, Terrebonne parish performed extremely well," Mr Edwards said.
Though they were strongly encouraged to leave, some local residents who fell outside mandatory evacuation zones were left frustrated because evacuation orders affect insurance claims and recovery.
Silver Linings
"Restaurants are losing thousands of dollars due to tossing inventory, unable to use their insurance because there was no mandatory evacuation. That’s a [expletive] racket," New Orleans resident Todd Shelton told The National.
Mr Shelton and his wife, who works in the restaurant industry, had to relocate from their home in the Mid-City neighbourhood of New Orleans to a hotel, along with their dog.
In spite of their dire situation, the Sheltons, along with other city dwellers, are finding a way to lend a helping hand and by making sure the hungry get fed.
"One of the things I think has been coolest to see over the past few days is people who are popping up to provide food for workers or for people who might just want a simple bite. I spent the morning cleaning out the walk in at one of city’s best restaurants and all food donated to Second Harvest Food Bank, said Shelton.
"The Howlin’ Wolf, one of the city’s most popular music venues, is making sandwiches to hand out. It’s great to see people come together in this way."
Ida hit on the same date Hurricane Katrina ravaged Louisiana and Mississippi 16 years earlier, coming ashore 72 kilometres west of where Category 3 Katrina first made landfall.
Katrina was blamed for 1,800 deaths and catastrophic flooding took place when the levees broke.
Reports of major structural damage were emerging, according to FEMA. Analysts estimate the storm could cost insurers at least $15 billion.
FEMA administrator Deanne Criswell said the agency is "getting reports of significant structural damage across the area."
“We are going to have a long road over the next few days," Ms Criswell said.
Greatest of All Time
Starring: Vijay, Sneha, Prashanth, Prabhu Deva, Mohan
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Simran
Director Hansal Mehta
Stars: Kangana Ranaut, Soham Shah, Esha Tiwari Pandey
Three stars
RACECARD
6pm Emaar Dubai Sprint – Conditions (TB) $60,000 (Turf) 1,200m
6.35pm Graduate Stakes – Conditions (TB) $100,000 (Dirt) 1,600m
7.10pm Al Khail Trophy – Listed (TB) $100,000 (T) 2,810m
7.45pm UAE 1000 Guineas – Listed (TB) $150,000 (D) 1,600m
8.20pm Zabeel Turf – Listed (TB) $100,000 (T) 2,000m
8.55pm Downtown Dubai Cup – Rated Conditions (TB) $80,000 (D) 1,400m
9.30pm Zabeel Mile – Group 2 (TB) $180,000 (T) 1,600m
10.05pm Dubai Sprint – Listed (TB) $100,000 (T) 1,200m
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UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
Company name: Farmin
Date started: March 2019
Founder: Dr Ali Al Hammadi
Based: Abu Dhabi
Sector: AgriTech
Initial investment: None to date
Partners/Incubators: UAE Space Agency/Krypto Labs
JOKE'S%20ON%20YOU
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The specs
Engine: 4.0-litre flat-six
Torque: 450Nm at 6,100rpm
Transmission: 7-speed PDK auto or 6-speed manual
Fuel economy, combined: 13.8L/100km
On sale: Available to order now
Our legal advisor
Ahmad El Sayed is Senior Associate at Charles Russell Speechlys, a law firm headquartered in London with offices in the UK, Europe, the Middle East and Hong Kong.
Experience: Commercial litigator who has assisted clients with overseas judgments before UAE courts. His specialties are cases related to banking, real estate, shareholder disputes, company liquidations and criminal matters as well as employment related litigation.
Education: Sagesse University, Beirut, Lebanon, in 2005.
Best Academy: Ajax and Benfica
Best Agent: Jorge Mendes
Best Club : Liverpool
Best Coach: Jurgen Klopp (Liverpool)
Best Goalkeeper: Alisson Becker
Best Men’s Player: Cristiano Ronaldo
Best Partnership of the Year Award by SportBusiness: Manchester City and SAP
Best Referee: Stephanie Frappart
Best Revelation Player: Joao Felix (Atletico Madrid and Portugal)
Best Sporting Director: Andrea Berta (Atletico Madrid)
Best Women's Player: Lucy Bronze
Best Young Arab Player: Achraf Hakimi
Kooora – Best Arab Club: Al Hilal (Saudi Arabia)
Kooora – Best Arab Player: Abderrazak Hamdallah (Al-Nassr FC, Saudi Arabia)
Player Career Award: Miralem Pjanic and Ryan Giggs
Haemoglobin disorders explained
Thalassaemia is part of a family of genetic conditions affecting the blood known as haemoglobin disorders.
Haemoglobin is a substance in the red blood cells that carries oxygen and a lack of it triggers anemia, leaving patients very weak, short of breath and pale.
The most severe type of the condition is typically inherited when both parents are carriers. Those patients often require regular blood transfusions - about 450 of the UAE's 2,000 thalassaemia patients - though frequent transfusions can lead to too much iron in the body and heart and liver problems.
The condition mainly affects people of Mediterranean, South Asian, South-East Asian and Middle Eastern origin. Saudi Arabia recorded 45,892 cases of carriers between 2004 and 2014.
A World Health Organisation study estimated that globally there are at least 950,000 'new carrier couples' every year and annually there are 1.33 million at-risk pregnancies.
Living in...
This article is part of a guide on where to live in the UAE. Our reporters will profile some of the country’s most desirable districts, provide an estimate of rental prices and introduce you to some of the residents who call each area home.
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UAE v Gibraltar
What: International friendly
When: 7pm kick off
Where: Rugby Park, Dubai Sports City
Admission: Free
Online: The match will be broadcast live on Dubai Exiles’ Facebook page
UAE squad: Lucas Waddington (Dubai Exiles), Gio Fourie (Exiles), Craig Nutt (Abu Dhabi Harlequins), Phil Brady (Harlequins), Daniel Perry (Dubai Hurricanes), Esekaia Dranibota (Harlequins), Matt Mills (Exiles), Jaen Botes (Exiles), Kristian Stinson (Exiles), Murray Reason (Abu Dhabi Saracens), Dave Knight (Hurricanes), Ross Samson (Jebel Ali Dragons), DuRandt Gerber (Exiles), Saki Naisau (Dragons), Andrew Powell (Hurricanes), Emosi Vacanau (Harlequins), Niko Volavola (Dragons), Matt Richards (Dragons), Luke Stevenson (Harlequins), Josh Ives (Dubai Sports City Eagles), Sean Stevens (Saracens), Thinus Steyn (Exiles)
What is an ETF?
An exchange traded fund is a type of investment fund that can be traded quickly and easily, just like stocks and shares. They come with no upfront costs aside from your brokerage's dealing charges and annual fees, which are far lower than on traditional mutual investment funds. Charges are as low as 0.03 per cent on one of the very cheapest (and most popular), Vanguard S&P 500 ETF, with the maximum around 0.75 per cent.
There is no fund manager deciding which stocks and other assets to invest in, instead they passively track their chosen index, country, region or commodity, regardless of whether it goes up or down.
The first ETF was launched as recently as 1993, but the sector boasted $5.78 billion in assets under management at the end of September as inflows hit record highs, according to the latest figures from ETFGI, a leading independent research and consultancy firm.
There are thousands to choose from, with the five largest providers BlackRock’s iShares, Vanguard, State Street Global Advisers, Deutsche Bank X-trackers and Invesco PowerShares.
While the best-known track major indices such as MSCI World, the S&P 500 and FTSE 100, you can also invest in specific countries or regions, large, medium or small companies, government bonds, gold, crude oil, cocoa, water, carbon, cattle, corn futures, currency shifts or even a stock market crash.
