New Orleans | Rescuers in boats, helicopters and high-water trucks brought hundreds of people trapped by Hurricane Ida’s floodwaters to safety on Monday (Tuesday AEST) and utility repair crews rushed in, after the furious storm swamped the Louisiana coast and ravaged the electrical grid in the stifling, late-summer heat.

Residents living amid the maze of rivers and bayous along the state’s Gulf Coast retreated to their attics or roofs and posted their addresses on social media with instructions for search-and-rescue teams on where to find them.

AP