Latest 'best guess' path for Ida puts it in Avoyelles Monday

Tropical Storm Ida, expected to be a Category 1 hurricane when it hits the northwest tip of Cuba this evening, will most likely strike somewhere along the Louisiana Gulf Coast Sunday evening.

While forecasters emphasize an exact location and intensity cannot be accurately predicted at this time, the favored path takes the storm through Avoyelles Parish Monday as a Category 1 hurricane with 75 mph sustained winds and gusts of almost 100 mph. It will also be dumping heavy rainfall as it passes through.

This projection has Ida traveling unhindered from Cuba across the warm Gulf waters on its way to landfall south of New Iberia. As it nears land, with cooler waters, it is expected to weaken to a Category 2 hurricane with 98 mph winds and 121 mph gusts before it makes landfall early Monday morning.

This path has Ida entering Avoyelles at Goudeau around 7 a.m. and then taking a northeast route to pass between Hamburg and Marksville, through the Big Bend/Bordelonville area and then along the Catahoula-Concordia parish line. This path takes Ida out of Louisiana, still with tropical storm-force winds, near Lake Providence as it crosses the Mississippi River into Mississippi.

Avoyelles Parish had a "busy shopping day" Thursday as residents stocked up on essentials to weather the storm should the projections prove true and the parish is hit with hurricane-force winds that would disrupt electrical service and heavy rains that could threaten low-lying areas.