Power restoration in parts of La. could take weeks
Northeastern US begins cleanup after Ida impact
NEW ORLEANS – Full restoration of electricity to some of the hardest-hit areas of Louisiana battered by Hurricane Ida could take until the end of the month, the head of Entergy Louisiana warned Saturday.
Ida damaged or destroyed more than 22,000 power poles, more than hurricanes Katrina, Zeta and Delta combined, an impact Entergy President and CEO Phillip May called “staggering.” More than 5,200 transformers failed and nearly 26,000 spans of wire – the stretch of transmission wires between poles – were down.
“The level of devastation makes it quite difficult or near impossible to get in and fully assess some places,” said May of five southeastern Louisiana parishes facing the longest delays. The company is estimating full power restoration by Sept. 29 or even longer for some customers, although May said that was a “no later than” date with the hope of earlier restoration.
As of Saturday morning, 97% of damage assessment was complete and power restored to about 282,000 customers from the peak of 902,000 who lost power after Ida. Power has been restored to about a quarter of New Orleans residents, including all of the city’s hospitals, and the city’s 27 substations are ready to serve customers, said Deanna Rodriguez, Entergy New Orleans president and CEO.
Six days after Hurricane Ida made landfall, hard-hit parts of Louisiana were still struggling to restore any sense of normalcy. Even across New Orleans, a continued lack of power for most residents made a sultry stretch of summer hard to bear and added to woes in the aftermath of Ida. Louisiana authorities searched Friday for a man they said shot another man to death after they both waited in a long line to fill up at a gas station in suburban New Orleans.
New Orleans Mayor Latoya Cantrell said the city would offer transportation starting Saturday to any resident looking to leave the city and get to a public shelter. It already began moving some residents out of senior homes.
At the Renaissance Place senior home Friday, dozens of residents lined up to get on minibuses equipped with wheelchair lifts after city officials said they determined conditions at the facility were not safe and evacuated it.
But Cantrell also encouraged residents to return to the city as their power comes back, saying they could help the relief effort by taking in neighbors and family who were still in the dark. Only a small number of city residents had power back by Friday though almost all electricity should return by Wednesday, according to Entergy.
The outlook was not as promising south and west of the city, where Ida’s fury fully struck. The sheriff’s office in Lafourche Parish cautioned returning residents about the difficult situation that awaited them – no power, no running water, little cellphone service and almost no gasoline.
In a bit of good news, the Lower Mississippi River was reopened to all vessel traffic in New Orleans and key ports throughout southeast Louisiana, authorities said Saturday. In a news release, Coast Guard Capt. Will Watson said the successful removal of several power lines that had blocked the waterway from a downed transmission tower after the storm and a survey of the ship channel allowed the river to be “deemed open for all marine traffic.”
Meanwhile Saturday, the U.S. Coast Guard cleanup crews were responding to a sizable oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico following the storm. The spill, which is ongoing, appears to be coming from a source underwater at an offshore drilling lease about 2 miles south of Port Fourchon, Louisiana.
In the northeastern U.S., floodstricken families and business owners were hauling waterlogged belongings to the curb Saturday and scraping away noxious mud as cleanup from the remnants of Ida moves into high gear. The White House said President Joe Biden will survey storm damage in New York City and Manville, New Jersey, on Tuesday.
A record 3 inches poured down in a single hour in New York City, where by Thursday afternoon, nearly 71⁄2 inches had fallen, according to the National Weather Service. Eleven people died when they were unable to escape rising water in their low-lying apartments.
On Saturday, the city opened service centers in each of the five boroughs to connect people with housing, food and mental health counseling. Seventy-seven people displaced by the storm were being housed in hotels, Office of Emergency Management spokeswoman Christina Farrell said.
In Connecticut, funeral arrangements were set for State Police Sgt. Brian Mohl, who was swept away with his vehicle while on duty early Thursday in Woodbury. A wake for Mohl is scheduled for Sept. 8 in Hartford, where the funeral will be held on Sept. 9.
Floodwaters and a falling tree also took lives in Maryland, Pennsylvania, New York and New Jersey, where at least 26 people perished, the most of any state. Most drowned after their vehicles were caught in flash floods.
At least 14 deaths were blamed on the storm in Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama, including those of three nursing home residents who were evacuated along with hundreds of other seniors to a warehouse in Louisiana ahead of the hurricane. State health officials have launched an investigation into those deaths and a fourth one at the warehouse facility in Tangipahoa Parish, where they said conditions became unhealthy and unsafe.
The health department on Friday reported an additional death – a 59-yearold man.