Power Outage, Search and Rescue Continues Near Gulf Coast Following Hurricane Ida

Clean up following Hurricane Ida continues in Louisiana as the storm moves east. The storm which made landfall on Sunday as a Category 4 Hurricane is responsible for at least five deaths, one of which was a drowning in Louisiana. Residents across the state are experiencing power outages and officials say electricity in some areas might not be restored for a month. New Orleans Mayor Latoya Cantrell said yesterday that ‘some level of power transmission’ could begin soon. Saying “the first step is transmission, and there’s been significant progress as it relates to that, the next step will be focusing on distribution lines. So we’re getting closer, and it could mean we do see some level of electricity or light in the city come tomorrow night.”

The National Weather Service issued a heat advisory for southeast Louisiana and southern Mississippi until 5 pm today and many local officials have urged those that evacuated not to come home yet. Governor John Bel Edwards said “many of the life-supporting infrastructure elements are not present, are not operating right now, please don’t come home before they tell you that it’s time.”