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Insights > Entergy System Hurricane Ida Update – 9/1/21 @ 1 p.m.
Entergy System Hurricane Ida Update – 9/1/21 @ 1 p.m.
09/01/2021
As a result of Hurricane Ida’s catastrophic intensity, eight major transmission lines that deliver power into southeast Louisiana were out of service. However, crews were able to bring one transmission source back online to begin delivering power into the Greater New Orleans area.
These lines run from New Orleans East to Slidell, west to Laplace, and from New Orleans to the Taft area.
An anticipated storm team of more than 20,000 is assessing the vast damage and destruction across New Orleans, southeast Louisiana and Mississippi, and restoring service where it is safe to do so.
Despite the significant logistical challenges and accessibility issues in some of the hardest-hit areas, our team has been able to assess about 36% of the impacted infrastructure and has identified 2,095 broken poles, 422 damaged transformers, and 2351 downed spans of wire statewide. Assessments will continue over the next few days but that may be extended for the more extensively damaged areas in the state.
However, as of early this morning Entergy has delivered the first lights into the Greater New Orleans area.
Any power to the region will allow the company to begin powering critical infrastructure in the area such as hospitals, nursing homes and first responders in Orleans, Jefferson, St. Bernard and Plaquemines parishes, as well as parts of St. Charles and Terrebonne parishes. Restoration will vary by parish and neighborhood based on local transmission and distribution damage.
Customers are urged to adhere to the guidance of their local officials on when to return to the area.
Road closures, flooding and other accessibility challenges due to the storm is affecting our ability to reach some areas of our territory and could delay restoration in those communities.
Following a storm, we deploy scouts to assess damage. It may take up to three days before we know how long until power will be restored.
Based on historical restoration times, customers in the direct path of a storm as intense as Hurricane Ida could experience outages for more than three weeks. While 90% of customers will be restored sooner, customers in the hardest-hit areas should plan for the possibility of experiencing extended power outages.
We appreciate our customer’s patience. We will continue to provide updates as we learn more.
STORM RESTORATION PROCESS
- Following a storm, we deploy scouts to assess damage. Our scouts work as quickly and safely as possible in sometimes very dangerous conditions. As damages are assessed, we will communicate with you the conditions found along with an estimated restoration time and our progress toward restoring your power. We ask for your patience, and please know restoring your power safely and quickly is our top priority.
- As we assess the damage, we will begin restoring service where it is deemed safe to do so.
- To help ensure a smooth resumption of service, we ask that customers experiencing outages turn off or unplug their air conditioners and large appliances so that when power is restored, those appliances may be turned back on gradually.
IMPORTANT GAS SERVICE INFORMATION
- Stay away from suspected gas leaks.
- Do not attempt to turn natural gas valves on or off.
- To report a gas leak, call 1-800-9-OUTAGE.
STAY INFORMED
We continuously keep our communities informed throughout a storm using the following channels:
- Download our free app for your smartphone at entergy.com/app.
- Sign up for text alerts. From your cell phone text REG to 36778.
- Visit the Entergy Storm Center website and our View Outages page.
- Follow us on Twitter.com/EntergyLA or Facebook.com/EntergyLA.
- Call us at 800-9OUTAGE (800-968-8243).
- Follow updates in your local news media like radio television and newspapers.
