Some NOLA residents had their power turned on Wednesday morning for the first time since Hurricane Ida made landfall over the weekend.
According to a press release, Entergy was able to restore some customer’s power by using electricity from New Orleans Power Station, a natural gas plant in New Orleans.
"While initial service can be provided to some customers, the full restoration will still take time given the significant damage across the region," the press release read. "Crews will have to methodically bring back additional transmission lines over time to provide other pathways for power to enter the region, helping to maintain stability of the system throughout the complete restoration process."
John Hawkins of Entergy gave an update of the company’s progress to restore power to the region in an interview with WDSU News.
“I got a report last night at about 10 p.m. and we are making great progress in Orleans. We are about 65% assessed. So we are doing pretty good,” Hawkins said. “But I would like to say that we are not just assessing. We are also making repairs, so as we start bringing on additional substations and bringing in additional sources, that we are able to start reenergizing, so we are doing things in parallel, so that we can cut down the amount of time that needed on the back end.”
When it was announced that power was restored early Wednesday morning, Entergy's outage tracker reported about 173,000 were still without power. Around 200,000 homes and businesses currently get their power from the company.
Although it’s not clear exactly how many residents have their power turned back on, it’s the first time since Sunday evening when eight transmission lines were disrupted as a result of Ida’s fierce winds that some residents have had electricity.
As EBONY previously reported, Hurricane Ida has brought intense flooding and 150 mph winds, making it the fifth strongest hurricane ever to hit the U.S. mainland.
Currently, no timeline has been given for the restoration of power for the remaining residents of New Orleans and the surrounding region.
