Topline
According to Entergy's timeline, fears of long-term power outages in New Orleans will not materialize. The company released a timeline on Friday and claimed that the entire city would be back online by Wednesday, despite the significant damage caused by Hurricane Ida.
After Hurricane Ida destroyed a New Orleans building, a car was found under rubble in 2021. (Photo by Brandon Bell/Getty Images). Getty Images
The Key Facts
According to the Louisiana Public Service Commission, more than 900,000.000 Louisiana customers are without power. This includes 87% of New Orleans. Official restoration times were not provided by New Orleans officials, but some residents of nearby suburbs like Kennerare predicted outages for at least three weeks. Entergy's preliminary estimate released Friday said Kenner and most other inner suburbs should be able to have their power restored by Wednesday. Entergy stated that the Baton Rouge region, also badly affected by the storms, should be back on Tuesday.
Important Quote
These are the general descriptions of Entergy's local network. The company stated in a statement that some cities and towns in these networks will be able to vote earlier than the dates.
What we don't know
There's no time frame for when power will be restored to Louisiana's coast. Ida made landfall Sunday with 150 mph sustained winds and was the strongest storm to hit Louisiana since Hurricane Laura in 2012.
Important Background
After Hurricane Ida cut off all power to New Orleans, electricity has begun to trickle back into the city. This was primarily because a 400-foot tall transmission tower was destroyed west of New Orleans. People are rushing to refill generators after losing power, which was one of the few reliable sources of power following the storm. GasBuddy reported that more than 65% were without fuel in New Orleans and Baton Rouge on Thursday. The President Joe Biden gave the Energy Department Thursday authority to address the fuel shortage. This was in response to Louisiana's ongoing oil shortage. The Energy Department announced that it would release 1.5 Million barrels of oil from its Strategic Petroleum Reserve on Thursday afternoon to ease the fuel shortage.
Tangent
The New Orleans Saints will play the Green Bay Packers in Jacksonville, Florida on September 12. This is despite the fact that much of New Orleans may be able to get power back by then. This move was made earlier in the week, when power restoration was expected take longer.
Continue reading
New Orleans Recovers Partially Power after Hurricane Ida, but Full Return could Take Weeks or More (Forbes).
Louisiana is facing a critical fuel shortage, further threatening power supply (Forbes).
U.S. U.S.
Saints-Packers Game Moving To Jacksonville After Hurricane Ida Wrecks New Orleans (Forbes)
