The damage reports from Grand Isle are extremely dire after Jefferson Parish officials visited what was once the state’s only habitable barrier island before Hurricane Ida. Brooke Thorington has more.
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Progress is being made to get the lights back on in Louisiana, Dave Brannen has the details.
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The reports out of Grand Isle are catastrophic. Jefferson Parish President Cynthia Lee Sheng says she’s received dismal news from site visits of the barrier island, which was the state’s only habitable barrier island.
Sheng says the only people on the island are the mayor, the police chief, and some first responders. Because there is no means of communication on the island right now, Sheng says they will be setting up a system to relay information to the residents of Grand Isle who she knows are anxious to receive word.
Jefferson Parish Councilman Ricky Templet says they’ve found 15 breaches in Burrito Levee that need to be addressed immediately because we are at the height of hurricane season. Despite the total devastation of Grand Isle, Templet says there is some bright news.
Templet says there are updates on Jefferson Parish Facebook page, and he encourages residents to check for updates.
Jefferson Parish Director of Fire Services Bryn Adams wants to discourage any sightseers from visiting the area because it hinders responders’ ability to enter and exit the island. Adams says due to the lack of water on the island they are also unable to respond to any fires and there is a strong odor of natural gas on Grand Isle. Adams says it will be several years before the island recovers.
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Sheng is encouraging those who are still in Jefferson Parish to leave and the parish remains under a 6 pm to 6 am curfew.
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After Hurricane Ida left New Orleans completely in the dark, power is slowly being restored. Entergy President and CEO Deanna Rodriquez says the partial restoration took place at one this morning with the repair of a transmission line from Slidell…
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More than 11,500 Orleans Parish customers had the lights back on by mid-morning today and that number is expected to keep increasing…
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Rodriquez and Entergy Louisiana President and CEO Philip May both say this is a first step in getting the power back on, May noting it’s a huge first step…
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May says in the coming days He expects to see a lot more progress as Entergy seeks to restore power to every last customer. He says outside of New Orleans, the utility has restored power to more than 100,000 customers, most of that number in the Baton Rouge area.
The total number of outages has fallen below one-million and it’s now 989-thousand customers without electricity. That’s 44-percent of all Louisiana utility customers.
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Finding fuel is a difficult task in southeast Louisiana as many stations are out and there are long lines at stations that do have fuel. Ascension Parish Sheriff Bobby Webre says the local refineries that usually supply his agency and surrounding gas stations with fuel are not at the moment…
Webre says he can’t get answers on why local refineries are not up and running. He imagines they have to follow certain protocols
Webre says he’s been working storm recovery ever since Hurricane Andrew in 1992 and he can’t remember such a fuel shortage. He says if they can’t get any gasoline from the local refineries, they may need to look out of state…
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Congressman Garret Graves says southeast Louisiana took a heck of a hit from Hurricane Ida. Graves’ district extends down into Thibodaux and lower Terrebonne Parish and he’s amazed by the widespread destruction the Category Four storm produced from storm surge to damaging winds
Graves says he’s amazed by the damage in LaPlace…
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Fuel shortages are also a problem as Ida has created production and distribution issues. Graves says power is not the only issue refineries are facing and it’s a topic he’s discussed with the White House…