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As Hurricane Sally nears, Entergy progressing toward full electricity restoration in wake of previous storm

As Hurricane Sally nears, Entergy progressing toward full electricity restoration in wake of previous storm
(Crews working on lines in North Lake Charles. Photo courtesy Entergy.)

Entergy and mutual aid crews, still dealing with the aftermath of Hurricane Laura and with another storm on the way, are progressing toward full restoration of electricity to customers by the end of month.

The New Orleans-based utility said crews are making significant progress in southwest Louisiana and should have power returned to most customers by September 23. Full restoration should come by September 30 to those who can safely receive it, according to Entergy.

As of 9:30 a.m. Tuesday, 44,085 outages were occurring in Calcasieu and Cameron parishes in Louisiana, down from a peak of approximately 93,000 outages in Southwest Louisiana, reads the latest report on restoration progress in Louisiana. Over the course of the storm and restoration, the company has restored 405,569 individual outages in Louisiana since Hurricane Laura hit in late August.

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“Restoration for customers in southwest Louisiana is a methodical process,” the utility noted in its Tuesday release. “While crews are working in all areas, those with the least amount of damage will be restored sooner. Some customers without power may notice that the electric system in their immediate area has been repaired or appears to be in good condition.

“Those customers could still be without power because electric equipment is damaged in portions of the system that they cannot see, sometimes miles away. Entergy Louisiana is committed to repairing and rebuilding the electric system until every customer who was impacted by the storm has power available to them. As work progresses, we will update restoration timeframes with increasingly accurate estimates.”

Nearly 9,000 workers from Entergy and other utilities are working to restore power even as Hurricane Sally bears down on the Gulf Coast. Entergy said that Sally will not negatively impact the post-Laura efforts.

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