Ida’s aftermath: No power, scant drinking water
NEW ORLEANS (AP) — Louisiana communities beginning the huge task of clearing debris and repairing the damage inflicted by Hurricane Ida are facing the dispiriting prospect of weeks without electricity in the oppressive, latesummer heat.
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 the electricity would come back on. Some areas outside New Orleans also suffered major flooding and damage to homes and businesses.
"I can't tell you when the power is going to be restored. I can't tell you when all the debris is going to be cleaned up and repairs made," Gov. John Bel Edwards said Monday. "But what I can tell you is we are going to work hard every day to deliver as much assistance as we can."
The storm was blamed for at least four deaths in Louisiana and Mississippi, including two people killed Monday night when seven vehicles plunged into a 20-footdeep (6-meter-deep) hole near Lucedale, Mississippi, where a highway had collapsed after torrential rains.
In Slidell, crews searched for a 71-year-old man whose wife said he was attacked by an alligator in Ida's floodwaters. She pulled him to the steps of the home and paddled away to get help, but when she returned, he was gone, authorities said.
In Houma, the uncomfortable reality of life without air conditioning, refrigeration or other more basic needs began to sink in.
"There's no running water. There's no electricity. Our desperate need right now is tarps, gasoline for generators, food, water," pastor Chad Ducote said Tuesday.
The pastor said a church group from Mississippi arrived with some food and supplies but was gone in 10 minutes. Neighbors came to Ducote's pool to scoop up buckets of water to bathe or to flush toilets.
"The people down here are just doing what they can. They don't have anything," he said.
On Monday, rescuers in boats, helicopters and high-water trucks brought more than 670 people in Louisiana trapped by floodwaters to safety. An additional 20 people were rescued in Mississippi.