News Release > Entergy Crews Make Significant Progress Restoring Power to Hardest Hit Areas

Entergy Crews Make Significant Progress Restoring Power to Hardest Hit Areas

02/24/2016

BATON ROUGE -- Entergy crews expect to have power restored by late today for most customers in the areas hit hardest by Tuesday's violent storms.

Crews are continuing work to restore power to customers in St. John the Baptist, St. James and Assumption parishes. As of noon today, there were approximately 3,800 customers in those parishes still without electricity.

Residents of the three parishes bore the brunt of violent storms that spawned multiple tornadoes and high winds that caused extensive damage to Entergy's electrical system. At its peak, the storm knocked out power to more than 30,500 customers across Louisiana.

Current estimates are the storms broke more than 250 power poles in Entergy's distribution system. The storms also downed eight transmission structures and damaged three others. Much of the damage to the transmission system is in marshy areas, so airboats and special equipment are being used to make repairs.

St. James Parish

Damage assessment is continuing in this area, but electricity is expected to be restored by the end of today to all customers who can safely take power in the Convent and Lutcher areas. Customers in the St. James community should have power restored by Friday evening.

St. John the Baptist Parish

Crews expect to complete restoration by the end of today for all LaPlace and Reserve area customers who can safely take power.

Assumption Parish

Crews are continuing to repair extensive damage to the electrical system in the Paincourtville, Plattenville and Belle Rose areas. Current estimates are it will take until Friday night to restore service to all customers in those communities who can safely take power. Customers in Pierre Part should have power restored by the end of today.

All residents with damage to customer-owned equipment -- such as the meter base, external breaker box or weather head -- will need an electrician to make repairs before power can be restored to their property.

Where to get info

Customers are encouraged to download Entergy's mobile app at entergyapp.com to access outage maps and information. In addition, online services are available to customers through “Entergy Storm Center,” “myAccount” and “View Outages.”  Through myAccount, customers can sign up to send and receive text information about power outages at their homes and businesses through their cell phones. Registration is easy.

Safety

Please be mindful of the following:

· Live wires can be deadly. Stay away from downed power lines. Call 1-800-9OUTAGE (1-800-968-8243) to report downed or dangling power lines, poles or other damaged equipment.

· Don't trim trees or remove debris on or near downed power lines. Only power company crews or their contractors should remove trees or limbs touching power lines.

· Keep away from the immediate areas where crews are working. There is always the danger of moving equipment and the possibility of construction materials or limbs or overhead wires falling to the ground.

· If you plan on using a generator for temporary power, get a licensed electrician and disconnect from the utility electric system before hooking up to your home main electric panel.

· Do not run a generator in a confined space without adequate ventilation.

Entergy Louisiana, LLC provides electric service to more than 1 million customers and natural gas service to approximately 93,000 customers in the greater Baton Rouge area. With operations in southern, central and northeastern Louisiana, the company is a subsidiary of Entergy Corporation.

Entergy Corporation is an integrated energy company engaged primarily in electric power production and retail distribution operations. Entergy owns and operates power plants with approximately 30,000 megawatts of electric generating capacity, including nearly 10,000 megawatts of nuclear power. Entergy delivers electricity to 2.8 million utility customers in Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi and Texas. Entergy has annual revenues of approximately $11.5 billion and more than 13,000 employees

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