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This National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA)/GOES satellite handout image shows Hurricane Ida at 9:01pm UTC, on Aug 28, 2021. (Photo: AFP/NOAA/GOES handout) - 

Hurricane Ida was upgraded to a Category 4 storm, the United States National Hurricane Center (NHC) said on Sunday (Aug 29), staying on course to hit New Orleans with sustained winds of 209kmh.

Sunday, when Ida is due to make landfall, marks 16 years since Katrina, the devastating hurricane that flooded 80 per cent of New Orleans, left 1,800 people dead and caused billions of dollars in damage.

"Major Hurricane Ida continues to strengthen ... Now a dangerous Category 4 hurricane," the NHC said on its website.

"Ida is expected to be an extremely dangerous major hurricane when it makes landfall along the Louisiana coast this afternoon," the centre earlier said in its latest advisory when Ida was raised to Category 3.

Shops were boarded up and evacuations were underway on Saturday in the southern US city, with officials warning residents to leave immediately or hunker down to ride out the storm.

"Everybody is scared because it's the anniversary of Katrina and people didn't take it seriously at the time," said Austin Suriano, who was helping board up the windows of his father's watch repair shop.

Category 4 is the second highest on the Saffir-Simpson hurricane wind scale, with winds rising up to 225kmh.

President Joe Biden warned on Saturday that "Ida is turning into a very, very dangerous storm" when it had built to a Category 2 hurricane.

Earlier in the day, people evacuating from New Orleans and other cities clogged roads heading north as officials warned locals to leave immediately or hunker down.

All Sunday flights were cancelled at New Orleans' airport.

Louisiana Governor John Bel Edwards said that Ida would be one of the most powerful storms to hit the state since the 1850s.

In New Orleans, Mayor LaToya Cantrell warned residents to take Ida with utmost seriousness.

Southern Louisiana was bracing for massive damage and flooding as the fast-intensifying storm roared northward after pummelling western Cuba.

"Extended power loss is almost certain," New Orleans homeland security director Collin Arnold told reporters on Saturday. "I'm imploring you to take this storm seriously."

Biden said that hundreds of emergency personnel had been sent to the region, along with food, water and electric generators.

Shelters were being prepared around the region, but Louisiana has been one of the hardest-hit states by the COVID-19 pandemic, and Biden urged anyone heading to a shelter to wear a mask and take precautions.

The National Weather Service is forecasting a "life-threatening storm surge" - as high as 3.4m near New Orleans and 4.6m around the mouth of the Mississippi River - when the hurricane makes landfall.

It warned of "catastrophic wind damage" and said that Ida could spawn tornadoes.

Louisiana has declared a state of emergency in preparation for the storm.

The emergency declaration, approved by Biden, will expedite federal storm assistance to the southern state.

The hurricane made landfall late on Friday in western Cuba as a Category 1 storm, packing winds near 130kmh but causing mostly minor damage.

Scientists have warned of a rise in cyclone activity as the ocean surface warms due to climate change, posing an increasing threat to the world's coastal communities//CNA