The mayor of New Orleans is counting the city's blessings after it was battered by Category 4 Hurricane Ida for more than 12 hours straight -- and asking those who evacuated to stay away for now.
"The worst case scenario, it did not happen. We did not have another Katrina, and that's something again we should all be grateful for," Mayor LaToya Cantrell said during a press conference Monday, referencing the hurricane that left more than 1,800 people dead 16-years to the day in August 2005.
Cantrell said the impact of Ida was significant, and asked those who evacuated the city to stay where they are.
"While we held the line, no doubt about that, now is not the time for reentry," she said. "I'm just wanting to put that out there to our residents who did heed our warnings, took our advice and evacuated the city. But now is not the time for reentry."
The process of assessing how devastating Ida was to the city is just getting under way, Cantrell added. And it's all hands on deck.
"Today is going to be a day for assessments across the board. We are only at the beginning of that process determining what the actual impacts have been across the city of New Orleans," the mayor said. "City agencies have been out since daybreak. They're going block by block, neighborhood by neighborhood. No one will be left out."
The storm not only knocked the entire city off the power grid, but the 911 system is down as well. Those are just some of the challenges crews are hard at work trying to repair.
"We must absolutely address all of our challenges and we will," Cantrell said. "We did not experience any widespread structural destruction. We're still assessing but from our assessments thus far, this remains a fact. Of course, we had some buildings collapse, we had some fires and the like, but I'm talking about extensive damages in terms of destruction."
The mayor said fortunately, there have been no reports of massive loss of life, though one person in the city did perish during the storm.
"One is too many," Cantrell said, "but we do know that it is a tragedy where we believe an individual was driving a car and therefore drowned. Again, that information will become official through our coroner's office. One is still too many."
The mayor said systems they depended on to save lives and protect the city "did just that and we are grateful."
"But there is so much more work to be done and that's why now is not the time for reentry into the city of New Orleans," she added. "Especially as we determine how the city may need to respond to the needs of our surrounding parishes as well. We will be a neighbor and we will be a good neighbor."
For those who evacuated, Cantrell said residents will be notified as soon as possible when it's safe to return. Those who stayed in the city, roughly 200,000 residents, are being asked to shelter in place.
"This is mainly associated with a lack of power sources in our city," she said. "Residents that are here now in the city of New Orleans and visitors, we need you to be careful. We need you to stay in your homes, stay in your neighborhoods."
Cantrell said the city is counting on neighborhood leaders to help relay the needs of the community.
"We know that communications have been compromised, but one thing that we also recognize is that we still have the ability to send text messages. AT&T and Entergy are doing everything that they can... they're going to help us in the meantime stand up remote operations for cellphone charging and the like," she said. "I believe this time is going to be best for us to pivot to those assets in neighborhoods."
The mayor reminded the community that "nothing has a quick fix" and asked for patience while restoration efforts are in progress. She also called on community members to lean on each other and lend a helping hand to those in need.
"While the power is down and we are dependent on generators, I'm calling on all the people and businesses that have the capacity in the city to be good neighbors," she said. "For the businesses that we know or they know have the capacity to provide some source of power to the community, we ask for you to notify the city... share the power you have, open your businesses for the people to recharge their devices as well as meet their ongoing needs. That's how we're going to get through this, no doubt about this."
Cantrell added that she is proud of the city and its people for weathering the storm.
"The resiliency, it shined through the darkness that Ida brought our way. But we're going to continue to be the light in the city of New Orleans. And we're going to shine brighter than we've ever shined before because we've proven our ability to be prepared," she said. "We've proven our ability to hold the line."
The mayor has spoken with President Joe Biden, who has activated more than 5,000 members of the National Guard to support with search and rescue and recovery efforts in Louisiana. The president is expected to speak on the relief efforts Monday afternoon.
"The federal government's response was right on," Cantrell said. "Having the declaration granted in the middle of the night -- spot on. That's something that we should be grateful for."
