Power should be restored to almost all of New Orleans by Wednesday, 10 days after Hurricane Ida destroyed the electric gird, tearing down poles, transformers and even a massive steel transmission tower and leaving more than 1 million customers in Louisiana without power.
Not every customer will have power back in the city, utility Entergy said in a statement Friday. Customers with damage where power enters their home will need to fix it themselves, and there could be some smaller areas that take longer.
And there still is no concrete promise of when the lights will come back on in the parishes east and south of New Orleans, which were battered for hours by winds of 100 mph (160 kph) or more, Entergy said.
The company asked for patience, acknowledging the heat and misery in Ida’s aftermath. Entergy said more than 25,000 workers from 40 states are fixing the 14,000 damaged poles, 2,223 broken transformers and 155 destroyed transmission structures.
“Please know that thousands of employees and contractors are currently in the field working day and night to restore power. We will continue working until every community is restored.” said Rod West, a group president for utility operations.
Ida’s agonizing aftermath took another grim turn Thursday as Louisiana officials announced an investigation into the deaths of four nursing home residents who had been evacuated to a warehouse ahead of the severe weather.
The Associated Press contributed to this article.