Louisiana probing facility where four nursing home residents died after Ida evacuation

Louisiana’s health department is raising the prospect of legal action as it investigates a facility where four nursing home residents died after being evacuated ahead of Hurricane Ida. 

The department said in a statement that it was alerted to four deaths among nursing home residents who were evacuated to the facility in Tangipahoa Parish. Three of the deaths are classified as storm related. 

The agency said inspectors visited the site after hearing of “deteriorating conditions” after Ida made landfall, but were “expelled from the property and prevented from conducting a full assessment on Tuesday.”

“We have significant concerns about conditions in this facility,” the department said. “This is a serious and active investigation. We will be taking action against these nursing facilities, and will be making appropriate referrals to law enforcement.”

The agency said it was working to relocate all 843 patients who were evacuated to the facility from seven different nursing homes.

As of 9:46 a.m. local time Thursday, 721 residents had been moved from the facility, 12 of whom were found to be in “condition that required hospitalization.”

Hurricane Ida made landfall on the U.S. Gulf Coast on Sunday as a Category 4 storm, but was later downgraded to a tropical storm. The storm left more than 1 million people without power and forced many to evacuate. Energy companies have said it could be weeks before power is restored in some places. 

Six people have died along the Gulf Coast as a result of the storm. Two of the deaths occurred in Louisiana, while another two occurred after a highway collapsed in Mississippi. Two more deaths were reported Alabama, where two electrical workers were electrocuted while assisting with storm restoration efforts, according to a local NBC affiliate.

The remnants of Ida, which barreled up the Atlantic coast, have left at least 22 people dead from Maryland to New York.