By Jay Croft
CNN
Hurricane Ida made landfall near Port Fourchon, Louisiana, early Sunday afternoon as an extremely dangerous, Category 4 hurricane with winds of 150 mph, the National Hurricane Center said.
Ida, striking on the 16th anniversary of the historically devastating Hurricane Katrina, tied as the state's most powerful storm ever with Laura from last year and the Last Island Hurricane of 1856.
Landfall is when the eye is halfway over the coast. Extreme winds and surge will accompany the 1 p.m. ET landfall over the next several hours.
Louisiana Gov. John Bel Edwards said Sunday he expects Ida to be "a big challenge for us."
Edwards told CNN's Jake Tapper on "State of the Union" that his state "is as ready as we can be," but he expects Ida to be "a very serious test of our levy systems, especially in our coastal Louisiana."