It is a surprisingly cool, serene morning here in Rome as I write this. I feel terrible to be so far away from my home in south Louisiana as everybody there is suffering from the effects of Hurricane Ida. I was up till 3 am Rome time, anxious for my family and friends. My wife texted to say they had lost power in Baton Rouge, but would text me if anything happened. There were no texts throughout the Roman night, which I am choosing to take as a good sign. Baton Rouge was spared the worst of the storm. But as I write, all of New Orleans is without power because the main transmission lines to the city were swept away. God knows how long it’s going to be before they are restored. It could be weeks.

Imagine that: a major American city without power for weeks. Let’s hope it doesn’t take that long, but when Hurricane Gustav blew through in 2008, it took over two weeks for power to be restored to many people in the Baton Rouge area — and it doesn’t seem to have been as destructive as Ida. I guess we’ll know more by light of day. I so appreciate the notes from you readers asking after my family. An Alabama friend even offered a place for my wife and kids. THANK YOU! I have tears in my eyes just thinking of it.

Saw this on the Twitter feed of a Baton Rouge TV meteorologist:

The poor man was so afraid, I guess, that he didn’t put their location into his tweet. Later, it was reported that the entire town of Jean Lafitte — named for the infamous 18th century pirate — went underwater.

There is no denying that global warming made this storm especially ferocious:

Scientists had been bracing for the worst since the moment forecasters identified a tropical depression forming last week. The Gulf of Mexico in August is always a hotbed of hurricane formation. “This time of year, it’s like bathtub water,” said Brian Tang, an atmospheric scientist at the University at Albany in New York.

Lately, conditions in the ocean have been exceptionally bad. According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, parts of the Gulf are three to five degrees Fahrenheit higher than the average for the end of the 20th century. Research shows that human greenhouse gas emissions have caused the ocean to warm faster in recent years than at any point since the end of the last ice age.

All this warm water is to hurricanes what gasoline is to a car engine, Tang said. A powerful storm takes energy from the ocean and converts it into roiling clouds and roaring winds.

As Ida developed, it traveled over the hottest parts of the gulf, sucking up energy to fuel its rapid growth. With no shifting upper atmosphere winds to disrupt it, the ring of thunderstorms around the hurricane’s center — called the eyewall — started to churn faster and faster.

Even worse, the sea surface temperature rose as the hurricane got closer to the coast.

“That’s really like stepping on the accelerator,” Tang said. “Flooring it, basically.”

Hurricane Ida intensified with astonishing rapidity. On August 26, it was a tropical depression. On August 29, it was one of the strongest hurricanes ever to make landfall in the United States. In three days. I don’t know how many people were able to get out of New Orleans in time. Think about how difficult it would be to evacuate a major American city with such short notice.

This is the new normal for the Gulf Coast, I guess. Keep in mind too that right now, Louisiana is one of the world’s hotspots for the Delta variant of Covid. You readers who feel inclined to wag your fingers right now at my state, keep it to yourselves. Please just pray, and donate whatever you can to hurricane relief. At this desperate point, folks there don’t need your spite or condescension. They need your compassion. They need your help.

I will update this post as I hear from family. If you are a Louisiana or Gulf Coast reader, and you still have power, please let us know in the comments how you are and what you are seeing.

UPDATE: Finally got a text from my wife saying they were fine, just miserable without electricity. Fortunately for Baton Rouge, the storm jogged a bit to the east, sparing the capital city the severity that had been forecast. Cell service is very spotty, but everybody at my home is okay. Same for my mom in St. Francisville. The power companies say it could take weeks for the lights to come back on. Weeks! This is the hottest time of the year in Louisiana, too.