EPA's Response to Hurricane Ida

Hurricane Ida made landfall around noon on August 29, 2021, just west of Grand Isle, Louisiana. High winds and storm surge at the coastal parishes led to widespread power and communications outages throughout Southeast Louisiana, and heavy rains across the central Gulf Coast and Lower Mississippi Valley caused considerable flooding. This story map provides an interactive summary of EPA’s work in response to these impacts, including aerial and on-the-ground air monitoring.    

As Hurricane Ida developed, EPA activated the Regional Emergency Operations Center at EPA Region 6 headquarters in Dallas, Texas, preparing staff and resources to deploy to affected areas if requested by states through the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA). Staff also worked with owners and operators of National Priority List Superfund sites to ensure the sites were secure, while EPA’s Office of Air and Radiation processed emergency fuel waiver requests from refineries in Louisiana and Mississippi.    

During emergency responses, EPA’s main priority is the safety of those in affected areas and our staff. EPA has fully integrated emergency response activities with the Louisiana Department of Environmental Quality (LDEQ) and other local, tribal, and federal response agencies. EPA will continue working with our response partners to assess impacts to communities and the environment following Hurricane Ida. 

Please click on the following links for the Air Monitoring and EJ Screen press releases by EPA:

•  https://www.epa.gov/newsreleases/epas-ejscreen-tool-helps-decisionmakers-consider-needs-communities-impacted-hurricane 
•  https://www.epa.gov/newsreleases/epa-expands-air-monitoring-efforts-communities-impacted-hurricane-ida 

Air quality is a priority for EPA and understanding potential health risks from chemicals and particles in the air is an important part of our work. This work includes several permanent LDEQ ambient air monitoring stations in the region as well as the ability to increase monitoring and other air quality response activities due to emergency needs. 

Due to electrical outages, some of the monitoring stations lost power. While authorities work to get the systems running again, LDEQ and EPA have deployed other resources to monitor air quality.     

On Sept. 2, LDEQ deployed Mobile Air Monitoring Labs (MAML), self-contained mobile laboratories capable of real-time sampling and analysis. The MAMLs are positioned in Norco and Marrero. When the MAML is deployed, data can be accessed at  https://airquality.deq.louisiana.gov/data . 

One resource EPA has at its disposal in emergency response is the ASPECT aircraft. EPA sent its ASPECT aircraft to evaluate potential unreported or undetected releases of chemicals from facilities identified by LDEQ within the hurricane impacted areas. Measurements collected from the plane were compared to established standards. No detectable concentrations of chemicals detectable by ASPECT were observed from the data collected. 

EPA’s ASPECT planes are able to take a wide variety of samples and measurements that help us understand potential risks on the ground including chemical, air toxic, and radiologic risks. They are also equipped with infrared sensors and high resolution aerial cameras. EPA sent its ASPECT aircraft to evaluate potential unreported or undetected releases of chemicals from facilities identified by LDEQ within the hurricane impacted areas. Measurements collected from the plane were compared to established standards. No detectable concentrations of chemicals detectable by ASPECT were observed from the data collected.  The standard chemicals monitored by ASPECT .

Air samples measured by ASPECT throughout this response found no elevated amounts of chemicals monitored. The following map displays the imagery collected by ASPECT at the priority industrial facilities identified by LDEQ.