LOUISIANA- Members of Nebraska Task Force 1, an urban search and rescue team, have helped rescue more than 100 people as they wade through knee-high water sweeping through the streets of southern Louisiana in the wake of Hurricane Ida.

The task force — made up of 40 private citizens and firefighters from the Lincoln and Omaha areas — were dispatched to Alexandria, Louisiana, on Friday ahead of the storm's arrival. Ida made landfall Sunday as a Category 4 storm with sustained wind speeds as high as 150 mph, according to the National Hurricane Center.

Nebraska's task force has spent the days since assisting local first responders in rescue operations in Louisiana, where the storm left behind flooded roads and stranded residents who either refused or were unable to evacuate ahead of the hurricane, Task Force 1 Chief Brad Thavenet said in a conference call with Lincoln-area reporters Tuesday.

Crews with the Lincoln Electric Service and a 16-man contingent from the Nebraska Public Power District were dispatched this week to help restore power in the state, where more than 1 million customers remained without power Tuesday afternoon. The Omaha Public Power District sent 15 employees to Baton Rouge, Louisiana, on Monday.

The task force, working alongside a similar group from Texas, helped evacuate more than 100 residents Monday, Thavenet said, though those efforts were focused on houses where residents had signaled for help.

On Tuesday, the task force took a door-to-door approach, Thavenet said, inching its way through neighborhoods in an effort to evacuate residents who might otherwise not make it out.

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