Louisiana family sheltering in attic during Ida landfall was 'the only thing' they could do
Ida battered Louisiana as a Category 4 with top winds of 150 mph, a tie for 5th strongest hurricane to ever hit the mainland U.S.
LAPLACE, Louisiana -- Some families near New Orleans have been forced to take shelter in their attics as their homes took on water due to Ida, which slammed Louisiana as a major hurricane on Sunday.
Tiffany Miller and her family live in LaPlace, Louisiana, about 30 minutes outside of New Orleans. They are all trapped in the attic, waiting to be rescued.
"We've been up here maybe for an hour. Conditions hopefully are getting a little bit better. Water came in from Highway 61, and it came in kind of quick. The only thing that we could do was climb in the attic," Miller told a New Orleans TV station.
Photos: Hurricane Katrina made landfall near New Orleans on Aug. 29, 2005
First responders say the conditions in LaPlace are too dangerous to respond, but they hope it may get better with daylight.
Elsewhere in Louisiana, the mayor of Jean Lafitte, Tim Kerner Jr., said Ida has left the area in "total devastation."
He is pleading for water rescues after the levee failed.
READ MORE: Colonial Pipeline temporarily shuts down 2 fuel lines as Hurricane Ida makes landfall
Ida spent 16 hours over land as a hurricane battering Louisiana before finally being downgraded to a tropical storm Monday morning.
It hit coastal Louisiana as a Category 4 hurricane with top winds of 150 mph, a tie for the fifth-strongest hurricane to ever hit the mainland U.S.
Hurricane Ida by the numbers: Wind speeds, rainfall, storm surges and more
ABC News contributed to this report.
