Heavy rainfall and flash flooding to parts of southern Louisiana is expected on Wednesday and Thursday, ABC-7 reported. It is reportedly said that the rainfall will likely be the heaviest on these two days.

These places have received plenty of rain, especially in areas west where rainfall accumulations up to 1 inch have been recorded. The ground is saturated due to the rainfall received, any more could lead to flash flooding.

The residents of Louisiana are still reeling under the damages caused by Hurricane Ida. They are also in search of food, gas, water and relief from the sweltering heat as thousands of line workers toiled to restore electricity and officials vowed to set up more sites where people could get free meals and cool off.

Also read: Hurricane Ida makes landfall along Louisiana coast as a powerful Category 4 storm

The Associated Press reported Charles Harris, 58, and said that he had no access to a generator and the heat was starting to wear him down. New Orleans and the rest of the region were under a heat advisory, with forecasters saying the high temperatures and humidity could make it feel like 106 degrees Fahrenheit (41 degrees Celsius) on Wednesday.

“I don’t have a car. I don’t have any choice but to stay,” said Harris, as he looked for a place to eat Tuesday in a New Orleans neighbourhood where Ida snapped utility poles and brought down power lines.

The officials from New Orleans announced as many as seven places around the city where people could get a meal and sit in air conditioning. The city was also using 70 transit buses as cooling sites and was to have drive-thru food, water and ice distribution locations set up on Wednesday, Mayor LaToya Cantrell said.

Also read: Hurricane Ida threatens havoc on US’ energy-heavy Gulf Coast economy

Hurricane Ida was the fifth most powerful storm to strike the United States when it hit Louisiana on Sunday with maximum winds of 150 mph (240 kph). It is reportedly said that the hurricane likely caused $50 billion or more in total damage.

The mayor estimated about half of New Orleans’ population evacuated before Ida struck. Those remaining worked to slowly restore a sense of order. In parts of the city, flags hung from dangling power lines to help drivers avoid them. In one neighbourhood, someone decorated the downed lines with strands of tinsel in an echo of Mardi Gras.

More than 1 million homes and businesses in Louisiana and Mississippi were left without power when Ida slammed the electric grid, toppling a major transmission tower and knocking out thousands of miles of lines and hundreds of substations.

An estimated 25,000-plus utility workers laboured to restore electricity, but officials said it could take weeks.