Approximately 160 feet of the 1,999-foot tower is standing in Vacherie, LA after Hurricane Ida walloped the state
A 1,999-foot tower owned by iHeart Media and broadcasting its FM station KVDU collapsed in Vacherie, LA after Hurricane Ida trounced the state with high winds.
Only the bottom 160-feet remain standing. No injuries were reported by iHeart.
Cumulus Media also shares the tower with WZRH-FM.
The structure is located in St. James Parish where the FCC’s most recent report shows that 49% of the area’s cell sites are out of service.
The guyed tower, formerly the tallest in the state, is approximately 87 miles from where Ida came ashore near Port Fourchon as a Category 4 storm, dropping to a Category 1 inland with winds at 95 mph.
In 1986 when the Vacherie structure was built, wind speed design in the parish was 100 mph.
The stations’ equipment shelters remained largely undamaged.
FM stations reported being out of service yesterday, in addition to KVDU and WZRH, were KKND, KMEZ, W208FC, WJDR, and WSSM.
AM radio stations out of service were WCJU, WHSY, WSHO and WYLD.
Television stations out of service doubled yesterday to 4 with KFOL WGNO, WNOL and WYES reporting their outage.