By Kanishka Singh
(Reuters) – Louisiana’s death toll from Hurricane Ida rose to 26 on Wednesday after health officials reported 11 additional deaths in New Orleans.
Of those deaths, eight were males and three were females, according to the Louisiana Department of Health.
The causes of the additional deaths ranged from excessive heat during an extended power outage to carbon monoxide poisoning, the department said, with excessive heat being responsible for nine of those fatalities.
The 11 deaths occurred or were reported to the Orleans Parish Coroner’s Office between Aug. 30 and Sept. 6, the department said.
Ida, one of the most powerful hurricanes ever to strike the U.S. Gulf Coast, hit Louisiana more than a week ago before moving northeast and causing intense flooding that killed dozens.
The hurricane had led to widespread power outages earlier this month, with over a million people being left in the dark in Louisiana. As of late Wednesday, over 270,000 people in the state still faced power outages, according to the PowerOutage.us website.
U.S. President Joe Biden on Tuesday toured sites of deadly floods in the Northeast and said Hurricane Ida demonstrated the ravages of climate change as he pressed for investments to boost infrastructure and fight global warming.
Biden noted that wildfires, hurricanes and floods were hitting every part of the United States, with more than 100 million Americans affected this summer alone. The storms will only be getting worse, he said.
The president visited Louisiana last week, promising federal aid and urging national unity.
Energy companies were also struggling to restart production more than a week after Ida made landfall. As of Tuesday, energy companies had 79% of U.S. Gulf of Mexico crude oil production still shut, or 1.44 million barrels per day, following Hurricane Ida.
(Reporting by Kanishka Singh in Bengaluru; Editing by Kim Coghill)
