Researchers in Ida’s Destructive Path Brace for Disruptions

The storm, which made landfall over the weekend as a Category 4 hurricane and has since weakened, forced the evacuation of multiple Louisiana campuses.

Written byAmanda Heidt and Annie Melchor

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ABOVE: NOAA

Hurricane Ida, one of the most powerful storms ever to hit the United States, made landfall yesterday morning (August 29) along the coast of Louisiana. The Category 4 hurricane, which has now weakened to a tropical storm, briefly reversed the flow of the Mississippi River; cut off power to nearly 2 million people, including the entire city of New Orleans; and led to the closure of multiple college and university campuses through Tuesday. Many areas have been flooded, and the extent of the storm damage, including the death toll, is not yet clear.

In comments today quoted by ABC News, Louisiana Governor John Bel Edwards said that levees had held against the storm surge, but that damage had nevertheless been “catastrophic.”

As Ida made its way north into Mississippi, The Scientist spoke with some of the researchers whose labs were in its path about their experiences.

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Meet the Author

Amanda Heidt
Amanda first began dabbling in scicom as a master’s student studying marine science at Moss Landing Marine Labs, where she edited the student blog and interned at a local NPR station. She enjoyed that process of demystifying science so much that after receiving her degree in 2019, she went straight into a second master’s program in science communication at the University of California, Santa Cruz. Formerly an intern at The Scientist, Amanda joined the team as a staff reporter and editor in 2021 and oversaw the publication’s internship program, assigned and edited the Foundations, Scientist to Watch, and Short Lit columns, and contributed original reporting across the publication. Amanda’s stories often focus on issues of equity and representation in academia, and she brings this same commitment to DEI to the Science Writers Association of the Rocky Mountains and to the board of the National Association of Science Writers, which she has served on since 2022. She is currently based in the outdoor playground that is Moab, Utah. Read more of her work at www.amandaheidt.com.
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Annie Melchor
Stephanie "Annie" Melchor got her PhD from the University of Virginia in 2020, studying how the immune response to the parasite Toxoplasma gondii leads to muscle wasting and tissue scarring in mice. While she is still an ardent immunology fangirl, she left the bench to become a science writer and received her master’s degree in science communication from the University of California, Santa Cruz, in 2021. You can check out more of her work here.
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