This Is What A Category 4 Hurricane Can Do As It Slogs Northeast

Hurricane Ida, the fifth most powerful hurricane ever to hit the U.S. mainland when it made landfall Sunday, cut a path of destruction, flooding and death from the Mississippi Delta to northern New England.

New Orleans itself was spared catastrophic damage, owing largely to a levee system rebuilt after Hurricane Katrina, but scores of Louisiana communities were all but demolished. Power outages could last for weeks, and will be made worse by the sweltering summer heat.

After passing through the Lower South on Sunday, the storm angled northeastward, claiming at least 22 lives, The Associated Press reports. Heavy rains sparked flooding that swept away homes in the mid-Atlantic region and turned New York City subways into underground canals.

See photos below of the devastating aftermath of Hurricane Ida, from Louisiana through the Northeast:

Damage to the side of a building from the remnants of Hurricane Ida is shown Thursday in the Queens borough of New York.

Three people were killed when several feet of water collapsed the wall to their basement apartment and flooded the apartment.

Felix Delapuente, a neighbor of the home in the Queens borough of New York where three people died including a 2-year-old child, shows the flood damage in his basement Thursday.

The remnants of Hurricane Ida dumped historic amounts of rain over New York City, with several deaths linked to flooding in the region as basement apartments suddenly filled with water and freeways and boulevards turned into rivers, submerging cars.

A fish lies on the driveway of a house near a river that overflowed in Woodland Park, New Jersey, on Thursday.

An employee of United Automatic Fire Sprinkler helps clean up after the business was flooded by the remnants of Hurricane Ida that hit the area in Woodland Park, New Jersey, on Thursday.

Homes damaged from the remnants of Hurricane Ida are seen on Josephine Lane in Mullica Hill, New Jersey, on Thursday.

A drone capture showing the aftermath of Hurricane Ida near Chimney Rock Road in Bridgewater, New Jersey.

In this drone capture, most of the landscape of Bridgewater, New Jersey is barely visible beneath the watery mud from Hurricane Ida.

In this image taken from video provided by Scott Smith, a fast-moving tornado is seen in the distance through a windshield just before the toll booth for the Burlington Bristol Bridge on Wednesday in Burlington, New Jersey.

The Schuylkill River exceeds its bank in the Manayunk section of Philadelphia on Thursday in the aftermath of downpours and high winds from the remnants of Hurricane Ida that hit the area.

Vehicles sit underwater during flooding in Philadelphia on Thursday in the aftermath of downpours and high winds from the remnants of Hurricane Ida that hit the area.

People look at a flooded street as the Schuylkill River exceeds its bank in the East Falls section of Philadelphia on Thursday in the aftermath of downpours and high winds from the remnants of Hurricane Ida that hit the area.

A member of a rescue team walks through a flooded street on Wednesday in Bridgeville, Pennsylvania.

Pennsylvanians braced for downpours and high winds from the remnants of Hurricane Ida, with forecasters warning that creeks, streams and rivers would be inundated across the state's southern tier.

Vehicles are under floodwater from Schuylkill River in the Manayunk section of Philadelphia on Thursday in the aftermath of downpours and high winds from the remnants of Hurricane Ida that hit the area.

Debris is strewn along West Street in Annapolis, Maryland, on Wednesday after severe weather — including a tornado — moved through the area.

Children launch homemade sailboats as a resident wades through a flooded street to check on a neighbor's house after the remnants of Hurricane Ida passed through the area Thursday in Narragansett, Rhode Island.

Floodwaters slowly recede Wednesday in the aftermath of Hurricane Ida in Lafitte, Louisiana.

Floodwaters still surround homes Wednesday as residents try to recover from the effects of Hurricane Ida in Myrtle Grove, Louisiana.

Life in Louisiana’s Plaquemines Parish is a mix of lots of frustration and a little adventure since Hurricane Ida, with cowboys wrangling loose cattle on a highway, residents navigating gator-infested floodwaters to get home and thousands waiting in long lines for gas and food.

Residents line up for fuel Wednesday as they try to recover from the effects of Hurricane Ida in Belle Chasse, Louisiana.

Ida ravaged the region’s power grid, leaving all of New Orleans and hundreds of thousands of other Louisiana residents in the dark with no clear timeline on when electricity would be restored.

Entergy has said it will take weeks to fully restore power.

A boat sits inverted in a storage facility Wednesday after Hurricane Ida moved through in Plaquemines Parish, Louisiana.

In the aftermath of Hurricane Ida people line up for food and ice at a distribution center Wednesday in New Orleans.

Louisiana residents still reeling from flooding and damage caused by Hurricane Ida are scrambling for food, gas, water and relief from the oppressive heat.

An airboat glides down a city street Monday in the aftermath of Hurricane Ida in Lafitte, Louisiana.

A barge on Monday damages a bridge that divides Lafitte, Louisiana, and Jean Lafitte, in the aftermath of Hurricane Ida in Lafitte.

The remains of a destroyed home are seen Tuesday in the aftermath of Hurricane Ida in Grand Isle, Louisiana.

A collapsed historical building is seen Monday on South Rampart Street in New Orleans, Louisiana.

Hurricane Ida became a tropical storm as its top winds slowed over Mississippi on Monday, while across southeast Louisiana residents waited for daylight to be rescued from floodwaters and see how much damage was caused by one of the most powerful hurricanes ever to strike the U.S. mainland. All of New Orleans lost power right around sunset Sunday, leading to an uneasy night of pouring rain and howling winds.

An official looks at the deep hole across Mississippi Highway 26 in the Crossroads community Tuesday.

Two people were killed and at least 10 others were injured when seven vehicles plunged, one after another, into the deep hole on the dark rural two-lane highway, which collapsed Monday, after Hurricane Ida blew through Mississippi.

The Associated Press contributed to this post.