As the city of New Orleans continues relief efforts following the devastation caused by Hurricane Ida on Sunday, Mayor LaToya Cantrell says the focus right now is on deploying resources to reach people where they are.
"We have been surveying our residential needs throughout the city of New Orleans and we're focusing heavily on day two with respite care, getting the much needed resources to residents in their respective neighborhoods," Catrell said at a news conference Tuesday afternoon.
The mayor said the city is mobilizing resources to meet these needs -- including water, food, cooling centers and charging stations.
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"Right now, we're standing up seven meals distribution sites in partnership with World Central Kitchens across the city in key neighborhoods," Cantrell said. "We're opening up a cooling center that will include AC, meals, water and charging devices."
Click here to see a list of cooling centers and meal distribution sites.
By Wednesday, the city be opening seven additional recreation centers as well as multiple drive-thru points of distribution -- known as PODS -- to provide additional services. The city plans to open additional PODS locations daily.
Cantrell said the city's focus is on deploying resources to meet people where they are.
"The RTA will be utilizing an upward of 70 buses that will be activated on today for mobile cooling centers for our residents," Cantrell added. "This is a great use of our assets, particularly buses, that can be used as cooling centers and deployed again strategically throughout the city of New Orleans."
Colin Arnold, director of Homeland Security, echoed the mayor, saying officials are focused on getting community based resources where they're needed. He said more generators and materials are received, they will be handed out to areas most in need.
"At the point of distribution sites, the PODS as we call them... that's going to be MREs, water and ice," Arnold said. "We also have tarps coming in. We'll be working with the city council to distribute those to people who truly need them, that are experiencing roof damage. But as these commodities come in, we're going to push them out as soon as possible."
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Residents who need medical assistance or have special needs should also make sure they are registered with the city.
"Any of our residents experiencing special medical needs should call 311 to register for our special needs registry. This will allow us to run triage, put you in touch with our medical providers," Cantrell explained. "We have real people, our people, who are calling our residents directly and responding to their needs directly and specially to their needs."
While most people want to know when the power will be restored, Cantrell said she just doesn't have that answer yet.
"We're going to be taking this step by step, one day at a time. And every day more resources, in terms of deployment, we should see some progress," the mayor said. "But at the same time, we recognize, as the days go by we understand people get a little angst. We know it's hot. We know that we do not have any power, and that continues to be a priority that this administration is pushing forward on with Entergy."
Ramsey Green, the city's Chief Administrative Officer for Infrastructure, said the utility is exploring a variety of ways to bring power back to New Orleans.
"The direction that Entergy is working on now... is they are assessing all eight transmission lines, identifying which small number of them they can bring up immediately, combine them with the generation within the city and then provide that power to the distribution," Green explained. "We can get power to the city but we may not be able to get it to your house immediately."
Entergy is expected to release a plan of action statement Tuesday afternoon on a potential timeline for their assessment work.
"Just because power comes here, doesn't mean it's coming to your house," Green added. "That requires a ton of work to get those lines that go throughout the city from the generation, the plant, to your home. That requires a lot of legwork."
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Additional resources are being made available through FEMA, but residents must register to take advantage of them.
FEMA Liaison Gerry Stolar admitted the recovery is going to be a long process, but he said every resident who needs help is going to get it.
"The response is being locally executed, state supported and federally supported with assets," he said. "We have resources already deployed that are assisting with search and rescue, we are providing generators to critical facilities and we are providing commodities such as food, water and tarps that you will see at the points of distribution in the coming days."
Stolar said more than 113,000 households have so far applied for federal assistance. Resident can apply for the individual assistance program by calling 1-800-621-3362, online at DisasterAssistance.gov, or by downloading the FEMA app.
"After a household registers, they will be contacted by a FEMA inspector to come and do an inspection of their damaged home. We're in the process right now of getting inspectors deployed here in southeast Louisiana," he said. "There's a lot of damage out there and access is somewhat limited so it's going to take us some time to get the number of people that we need in the local areas to do these inspections. So again, we ask for the patience of those who have registered and are waiting for an inspection."
Stolar said anyone who is currently in temporary housing should keep their receipts as they may be eligible for reimbursement for that expense. Those who have homeowners insurance should also reach out to their agents to start the claim process on any damages. Residents should document everything with photos and save all receipts for cleaning supplies and building materials, which may also be eligible for reimbursement.