NEW ORLEANS — About 1,000 customers of Entergy in southern Louisiana were without power Saturday as the electric and utility company raced to restore service.
Entergy said that most of those without power were in Portions of Acadiana, the river parishes between Baton Rouge and New Orleans, and Jefferson and Tangipahoa Parishes.
The total of those without power in those areas was down from a peak or nearly 90,000 following Friday's early morning storms.
Entergy said crews were out Saturday trimming trees, setting new poles, and installing new transformers, cross arms, and other electric equipment.
The company said five tornadoes impacted its statewide service areas this week, including an EF-1 tornado in Convent, Louisiana in St. James, with winds of up to 105 miles per hour.
There were also tropical storm-strength winds that damaged two transmission lines in Jefferson Parish late Thursday night.
“We’ve made significant progress, restoring power to almost 90 percent of the affected customers since this morning,” said Clint Robichaux, Cleco’s Director of Distribution Operations & Reliability. “In addition to Cleco’s personnel, the company has added 310 line-mechanics and vegetation specialists to help with power restoration efforts. Our crews will continue restoration efforts into the night, but some customers will be without power overnight due to extensive damage and flooding.”
On Friday afternoon, Entergy released a projected timeline for power restoration.
Estimated Times of Restoration by Parish
*While many customers will be restored sooner, the timeframes below describe when crews expect to have most customers who can safely accept electric service restored.*
- Sunday morning, May 19 – Tangipahoa and Acadiana parishes
- Sunday night, May 19 – Eastbank of Jefferson Parish and River Parishes
Some customers may have damage to the electric equipment attached to their home or business and may need to contact an electrician to make repairs before Entergy can reconnect service. If your electric equipment appears undamaged, text OUT to 36778 or call 1-800-9OUTAGE.
Prior to the update, Entergy issued a previous statement on its website, telling customers: "Our crews are working to restore service as quickly as possible. We do not currently expect to have your service restored overnight. At this time, we cannot predict when your power will be restored. We will provide an estimated restoration time and other information about your outage as soon as it's available. We apologize for this inconvenience."
Among the hardest hit areas based on Entergy's map are: Kenner, Metairie near Veterans and Transcontinental, River Ridge, Destrehan, parts of Laplace
Here's what we know about the outages by parish, according to Entergy:
- Jefferson Parish - 299
- St. Charles - 24
- St. James - 335
- Tangipahoa - 203
Cleco is also reporting outages in its coverage areas.
- St. Tammany – 723
- Washington – 12
According to Cleco, the following areas are expected to have power by overnight:
- Power is expected to be restored to all customers by tonight in the Slidell and Pearl River areas except for Davis Landing Road where there are approximately 15 residences / camps which may be without power due to high water / flooding.
- Old Town Mandeville – Atalin Street, Jackson Avenue, Albert Street, Colbert Street in between Montgomery Street and Lake Pontchartrain
- Buras Ranch Road area located off of Dove Park Road in Mandeville
- Covington – Jefferson Avenue, Madison Street, Monroe Street, Jahncke Avenue, New Hampshire Street, Vermont Street, America Street in between 20th and 8th Avenues
- Hyacinth Drive area located off Highway 21 in Covington
- There will be some scattered outages in Mandeville and Covington overnight
“Additional restoration times will be shared as soon as they are available,” said Robichaux. “We appreciate our customers’ patience as we work through this statewide outage.”
View Entergy's power outage map here.
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