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The presidential motorcade drives previous an space affected by Hurricane Ida as U.S. President Joe Biden begins his tour of the hurricane-affected areas in Louisiana, September 3, 2021.
Jonathan Ernst | Reuters
More than per week after Hurricane Ida made landfall within the area, lots of of hundreds of Louisiana houses and companies, and hundreds in Mississippi, remained with out energy as a brand new storm entrance moved in, threatening restoration efforts.
According to PowerOutage.us, the numbers amounted to 495,384 Louisiana clients and 4,656 in Mississippi with out energy as of Monday afternoon.
The National Weather Service issued a flash flood watch for southeastern Louisiana early Monday.
Showers and thunderstorms have been anticipated, with the heaviest able to producing three inches of rain, or extra, in a quick time period.
“Soil conditions are saturated or nearly saturated and heavy rainfall may quickly lead to flash flooding,” the warning mentioned.
Utility group Entergy mentioned in an organization assertion Monday morning: “Storms could hamper restoration in areas where conditions become unsafe for our restoration team to continue its work.”
Entergy additionally reported that 54% or 513,000 of its clients had already had their energy restored, out of 948,000 whole who misplaced energy throughout Hurricane Ida.
About 902,000 of effected Entergy clients have been in Louisiana. As of Monday, the corporate mentioned it had restored energy to almost half of these, or 467,000, together with about 66% of these experiencing blackouts in New Orleans. In New Orleans, 69,000 Entergy clients remained with out energy as of Monday morning.
As Gizmodo just lately reported, Entergy has a historical past of protesting insurance policies that will result in better use of renewable power, and investments in photo voltaic and power storage techniques in Louisiana. Besides producing electrical energy from clear, renewable sources, such techniques typically make the grid extra secure wherever they’re constructed, and may also help present or restore energy within the aftermath of pure disasters.
Entergy wrote that amid the brand new flash flood warnings within the area, “restoration times extend to no later than September 29,” for the toughest hit communities, resembling St. Charles Parish and Terrebonne Parish. That’s a full month after Hurricane Ida made landfall.