Hurricane Ida makes landfall in Louisiana

The Sewage and Water Board of New Orleans says the Parish-wide power outage is affecting its ability to operate its sewer pumping stations.

New Orleans residents need to begin limiting water usage at home, "in order to prevent sewage backups.

The board said they have obtained backup power for some of the stations, but they can only mobilize them, "when it is safe to traverse the city." 

Currently, the Board said they are mustering all of their self-generated power sources to continue operating their stormwater draining, and drinking water pumping, operations.

"Although we have lost all Entergy power, our teams are working quickly and decisively to make up for this with our self-generated power sources," the statement said. "The Entergy loss of power is a significant loss of power for our 60 hz pumps and the 25 hz pumps we power through the frequency changers, but we are using our self-generated sources of power to drain stormwater and pump drinking water into the city."

The center of Hurricane Ida is 30 miles west of New Orleans, according to a 9 p.m. ET update from the National Hurricane Center.

Ida maintains Category 3 strength, but has weakened slightly with maximum sustained winds of 115 mph.

Hurricane-force winds continue to move through southern Louisiana along with heavy rain producing flash flooding.

Moments ago, regional energy provider Entergy moments ago reported all of Orleans Parish is without power “due to catastrophic transmission damage” caused by Hurricane Ida.

The news came from the City of New Orleans Office of Homeland Security and Emergency Preparedness, which shared the Entergy alert.

Jefferson Parish has issued a boil water advisory for the entire east bank of the parish, a tweet from the government said Sunday.

The advisory was issued "due to the loss of pressure in the distribution system," according to the tweet. Jefferson Parish is west and south of New Orleans.

Parish President Cynthia Lee Sheng told CNN earlier that trees had fallen and their roots had come up, damaging water mains and causing the system to lose pressure.

All customers on the east bank are advised to continue to boil their water until the advisory has been rescinded, the tweet said. 

Earlier today, St. Charles Parish issued a precautionary water boil advisory, according to an emergency alert obtained by CNN. It came after officials received numerous reports of leaks.

All of Orleans Parish — which is the city of New Orleans — is without power, according to NOLA Ready, New Orleans' emergency preparedness campaign.

If anyone in the parish has power, it's coming from a generator, NOLA Ready says.

Across Louisiana, more than 700,000 customers are without power as Hurricane Ida continues to pound the coastal state.

Power outages are expected to continue increasing as the storm moves inland.

St. Bernard Parish president Guy McInnis tells CNN that he has reports of 22 barges that have broken loose because of Hurricane Ida.

McInnis says that although he is not worried about the barges hitting a levee and damaging it, he is worried that they may hit other infrastructure in the Parish. 

Specifically, McInnis is concerned about the barges damaging the Parish's water intake and refinery infrastructure. Because the winds are still very high, McInnis says the Coast Guard is waiting for the winds to die down before they can try and moor the loose barges.

Aside from the loose barges, McInnis says that they continue to be inundated with wind and rain as Hurricane Ina continues to lash the Parish. 

He said that the wind has been nothing like he's ever seen.

Daylight is fading in Louisiana as Hurricane Ida continues to batter the state. The storm will continue to move northward through the night.

If you're just reading in now, here's what you need to know about Ida as night falls on the Gulf Coast:

More than 700,000 customers are without power in Louisiana as Hurricane Ida continues to pound the coastal state.

Poweroutage.us is reporting 720,279 outages as of 8 p.m. ET.

That is an increase of more than 215,000 in the last two hours: At 6 p.m. ET, there were 504,149 customers without power.

Power outages are expected to continue increasing as the storm moves inland.

Hurricane Ida continues to push inland while slowly weakening with top winds of 120 mph, per the 7 p.m. CDT update from the National Hurricane Center. Hurricane-force winds stretch for 45 miles from the storm’s center. 

Ida is currently making its closest pass to New Orleans, and the storm is located 25 miles west-southwest of the city. 

A wind gust of 83 mph was felt at New Orleans International Airport last hour. New Orleans will be seeing their highest winds and heaviest rainfall within the next hour or two.

The tornado threat continues to mount, and a new tornado watch was just issued that includes portions of southern Mississippi, Alabama and the Florida Panhandle, in addition to far eastern Louisiana. The tornado watch is in effect until 7 a.m. ET tomorrow. 

Hurricane Ida is still a Category 3 hurricane as it continues to creep northward through Louisiana, according to the National Hurricane Center's latest update.

Ida is about 25 miles west southwest of New Orleans now, and it has sustained winds of 120 mph.

Here's a look at the latest forecast path, according to the National Hurricane Center: