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Insights > Crews Restore Power to More Than 100,000 One Day After Zeta Exits Louisiana
Crews Restore Power to More Than 100,000 One Day After Zeta Exits Louisiana
10/29/2020
Crews have restored power to more than 100,000 customers just one day after Hurricane Zeta tore through southeast Louisiana Wednesday afternoon.
The storm made landfall near Cocodrie, Louisiana, as a strong Category 2 hurricane with sustained winds around 110 mph — 1 mph shy of a Category 3 storm. The fast-moving storm brought hurricane-force winds to most of the area and tropical storm force winds to half of southeast Louisiana, knocking out power to approximately 481,000 Louisiana customers at the peak.
Today’s assessments identified significant damage to Entergy’s electrical system in South Louisiana. It heavily impacted the New Orleans area, with damage to approximately 320 poles, 80 transformers and 350 spans of wire.
By early Thursday, Entergy’s storm team had ramped up to more than 5,000 workers. Scouts are assessing damages and tree trimmers are clearing downed trees and debris for distribution line workers to restore power to customers impacted by Zeta.
Crews prioritize restoring power to critical infrastructure as well as bringing power back to the largest number of customers as safely and quickly as possible.
Based on historical restoration times, customers in the direct path of a Category 2 hurricane can experience outages for up to 10 days, although 90% of customers will be restored sooner.
We ask that our customers be patient with us as we repair portions of the electrical system. It could take up to three days before we can provide estimated times of restoration to the hardest-hit areas.
Crews will practice social distancing while in the field due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Customers should do the same. For the safety of crews and customers, please stay away from work zones. If there is a need to report a service problem, customers should call 1-800-ENTERGY.
Stay Safe
The most dangerous part of a storm is often just after it has passed. There is no way to know if a downed line is energized or not, so if you see one, keep your distance and call 1-800-9OUTAGE (800-968-8243).
Customers choosing to use portable electric generators should do so in accordance with the manufacturer’s instructions. Customers must never connect a generator directly to a building’s wiring without a licensed electrician disconnecting the house wiring from Entergy’s service. Otherwise, it can create a safety hazard for the customer or our linemen working to restore power. And it may damage the generator or the house wiring.
Restoration workers who discover a generator attached directly to Entergy’s system will work with the customer to disconnect the generator. As a last resort, the restoration worker will disconnect the customer’s service connection to Entergy, which may take an extended time to reconnect due to the extensive restoration effort underway.
