Sharjah 24 – Reuters: Hurricane Ida barreled into Cuba's Isle of Youth on Friday, the National Hurricane Centre (NHC) said, and the US Gulf Coast braced for a direct hit this weekend as the storm churned toward the region.

Ida reached hurricane status much more quickly than forecasters had expected. New Orleans city officials ordered residents to evacuate areas outside the levee system, with a voluntary evacuation for the rest of the parish.

In Baton Rouge, Mayor Sharon Weston Broome signed an emergency disaster declaration and said the city had pre-positioned sand and sandbags at eight strategic locations as part of storm preparations.

Louisiana Governor John Bel Edwards declared a state of emergency on Thursday and said on Friday he had sent a request to President Joe Biden for a "pre-landfall" federal declaration of emergency.

Ida smashed into the Isle of Youth packing maximum sustained winds of 75 miles per hour (120 km per hour), meteorologists said.

The storm was expected to keep gaining strength and speed over the warm Gulf waters, endangering the coast lines of Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama, forecasters said.

Ida was expected to make landfall along the northern US Gulf Coast on Sunday. If forecasts prove accurate, Ida could slam into the area 16 years after Hurricane Katrina hit.

Officials in US coastal areas preparing for the storm urged residents to move boats out of harbors and encouraged early evacuations.

Cuba's meteorology institute said Ida would cause storm surges as far east as Havana. The governor of the Isle of Youth Adian Morera said an evacuation centre was ready to receive families in the main town of Nueva Gerona, and sea vessels had already been secured along the coast.

Jamaica was flooded by heavy rains and there were landslides after the passage of the storm. Many roads were impassable, forcing some residents to abandon their homes.