An anticipated storm team of more than 20,000 and growing has begun assessing the vast damage and destruction across New Orleans and southeast Louisiana caused by Hurricane Ida’s landfall.
The catastrophic Category 4 hurricane’s brutal winds and torrential rainfall toppled transmission, power poles and other equipment, causing outages for approximately 895,000 Entergy New Orleans, LLC and Entergy Louisiana, LLC customers as of yesterday.
Damage to eight high-voltage lines took out power for New Orleans and Jefferson, St. Bernard and Plaquemines parishes, as well as parts of St. Charles and Terrebonne parishes.
One transmission tower near Avondale fell Sunday night, causing the tower’s conductor and wires to land in the Mississippi River.
As a result of Hurricane Ida’s intensity, major transmission lines that deliver power to numerous Louisiana parishes are currently out of service.
Entergy is conducting inspections of the system to get a clearer picture of what will be needed to repair the destruction. The full assessment of damage could take several days, since many areas are currently inaccessible either by roadways.
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.
