Hurricane Ida causes over 1M power outages across Louisiana, Mississippi

Hurricane Ida left nearly 1.2 million residents across Louisiana and Missippi without power on Monday in the midst of sweltering summer heat. 

As of 1 p.m. ET, more than 1,043,000 residents in Louisiana and nearly 115,000 in Mississippi remain in the dark, according to Poweroutage.us, which tracks outages nationwide.

Hurricane Ida touched down near Port Fourchon, Louisiana, as a Category 4 hurricane over the weekend with maximum sustained winds of 150 mph. It was "one of the strongest storms to make landfall in Louisiana and retained hurricane status nearly to Mississippi," according to Entergy Corporation, which delivers electricity to millions of customers throughout Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi and Texas.

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Entergy Corporation cautioned Monday that Hurricane Ida’s "catastrophic intensity" impacted major transmission lines that deliver power into New Orleans and that it may be weeks before power is fully restored. 

As a result of the storm, about 216 substations, 207 transmission lines, and more than 2,000 miles of transmission lines were knocked out of service, according to Entergy. 

"Where weather permitted, our crews were out at first light today assessing damage where it was safe to do so," Entergy said Monday, adding that this will help them better assess the current situation. 

"It would be premature to speculate at this time when power will be restored given the extent of the damage," Entergy added.  

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Droves of residents are now suffering without air conditioning and refrigeration as temperatures remain elevated in the area, hitting the mid-80s on Monday and climbing to nearly 90 by Wednesday.

Residents who have evacuated the area before the storm are even being told to stay away as crews continue to repair downed power lines and clean up debris. 

The trouble is also far from over. According to the National Weather Service, "heavy rainfall and flooding impacts are expected to spread across the Tennessee and Ohio Valleys, the central and southern Appalachians, and Mid-Atlantic through Wednesday." 

The Associated Press contributed to this report.