METAIRIE, La. — Nearly three dozen elderly residents who were trapped for hours inside a damaged condo complex after a portion of the roof was blown off as Hurricane Ida made landfall have been evacuated to a nearby church despite it having no power.
The Metairie Tower Condo Complex has about 219 individual condo units and about 30 to 40 residents who had not evacuated ahead of the storm were stuck inside.
Once the roof collapsed Sunday afternoon rain was pouring into the building which is right across from St. Francis Xavier Church. At the time officials said the winds were simply too strong to evacuate the residents safely over to that church.
Eventually, crews secured a van and were able to safely move the residents in groups over to the church where they'll be spending the night.
The Clarion Herald, which is the official newspaper of the Archdiocese of New Orleans, reported that 34 people are spending the night at the church.
The winds were also making it very difficult for first responders from the Jefferson Parish fire department to get to the area to assist residents. Earlier Sunday, just one district fire chief had been able to make it over there, according to WWL anchor Karen Swenson, who spoke with firefighters.
Many of the residents there have pre-existing conditions some of them are dependent on dialysis.
A nearby fire station in the 3500 block of Jefferson Highway was also damaged, according to officials there.
See the latest on Hurricane Ida, a dangerous Category 4 hurricane, on the WWL YouTube page here.