NEW ORLEANS: Hurricane Ida was upgraded to a Category Three storm Sunday with sustained winds of 115 miles per hour (185 kilometers per hour), as it remained on course to hit New Orleans, the National Hurricane Center said.
"Rapid strengthening is forecast to continue during the next 12 hours or so, and Ida is expected to be an extremely dangerous major hurricane when it makes landfall along the Louisiana coast this afternoon," the NHC said in its latest advisory.