All of New Orleans is without electricity Monday morning after Hurricane Ida swept through, leaving havoc in its wake.
Regional utility company Entergy says catastrophic transmission line damage means no power is getting into the city. The 911 system is also down. Officials are telling residents to head to the nearest fire station or to find a police officer if they need emergency assistance.
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A main Jefferson Parish transmission tower fell into the Mississippi River. In addition, 22 barges were unmoored and left to float freely during the storm. Experts are afraid, at their size, the boats could cause further damage up the river.
Jefferson Parish President Cynthia Lee Sheng said about 97% of the parish is without power as well, in the aftermath of the storm that killed one man.
"A transmission tower went down," said Jefferson parish President Cynthia Lee Sheng. "This is near the Avondale area. This tower, my understanding is, served a large portion of New Orleans, the Eastbank, this is a major tower."
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Entergy released the following statement:
As a result of Hurricane Ida’s catastrophic intensity, all eight transmission lines that deliver power into the New Orleans area are currently out of service. When this occurred, it caused a load imbalance in the area and resulted in generation in the area coming offline.
We are currently working to assess damage and identify a path forward to restore power, to those who can take it, in the area.
We have provided back-up generation to the New Orleans Sewerage and Water Board.
Power will not be restored this evening, but we will continue work to remedy.
Most customers in the rest of the region are also without electricity.
Entergy reports more than 620,000 outages.
Utility company CLECO says 83% of St. Tammany is in the dark, as well. They report about 80,000 outages.