Some 5,300 National Guard members from four states were activated Monday to help rescue and relief efforts after Hurricane Ida tore through Louisiana and Mississippi, the Guard announced.
Ida landed as a Category 4 hurricane in Louisiana Sunday with 150 mph winds and rain that caused widespread flooding and power outages.
About 5,000 members from the Louisiana National Guard were staged for a massive mission to protect lives and property, while maintaining communications, operations, and government, the Guard said in statement. The rest of the support is coming from Guard units in Mississippi, Alabama, and Texas.
According to the statement, the Louisiana National Guard was making available 195 high-water vehicles and 73 rescue boats and had 34 helicopters ready to support search and rescue, evacuation, and reconnaissance missions.
Guard teams were ready in 23 parishes, and set to support others as requested, the statement said. In addition, a staging area in Tangipahoa Parish had trucks and trailers ready to deliver food and water.
Meanwhile, the Guard placed engineer work teams in three parishes to assist with any infrastructure damage, post-storm debris, and road clearance if needed.
In a tweet, the Louisiana National Guard said its members set out early Monday in LaPlace with other local and state agencies. LaPlace is located in St. John the Baptist Parish and is around 30 miles northwest of New Orleans.
The video embedded in the tweet shows some of the devastation there from Sunday.
Ida had weakened to a tropical storm on Monday.
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Fran Beyer is a writer with Newsmax and covers national politics.
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