TANGIPAHOA PARISH, La. — Here are some of the top points from Governor John Bel Edwards' press conference after visiting some of the hardest-hit areas of the state.
- Gov. John Bel Edwards has been visiting areas in Southeast Louisiana for three days.
- It doesn’t get easier seeing Hurricane Ida’s destruction, he said
- 9 deaths in Louisiana
- "I think we’re the best in the business because we get too much business at disaster response," Edwards said. "I thank Louisianans for being good neighbors to one another."
- They were helping the elderly, and those with special needs
- Goodness and decency of the people of Louisiana
- "It pains me to see people hurting... their lives are turned upside down," he said.
- Edwards was grieved by the situation in Independence with the nursing home evacuee deaths.
- They're our most vulnerable citizens
- 4 deaths (3 storm-related)
- Woman, 59, from Harvey
- Man, 52, from New Orleans
- Man, 77, from Houma
After reports of inadequacies at the site, LDH inspectors were sent to investigate Tuesday, but they were expelled before a full inspection could be done.
- In a little over 24 hours, 812 patients were moved
- 12 moved to hospitals
- Others moved to nursing homes and special need shelters across Louisiana
- Patients were evacuated from
- River Palms Nursing and Rehab New Orleans
- South Lafourche Rehab and Nursing in Lafourche Parish
- Maison Orleans Health Care Center New Orleans
- Park Place Health Care Nursing Home Jefferson Parish
- West Jefferson Health Care Center Jefferson Parish
- Maison De Ville Nursing Home in Terrebonne Parish
- Maison De Ville Nursing Home of Harvey in Jefferson Parish
- Unless there is a mandatory evacuation order, the obligation falls on the nursing home to evacuate residents
- There will be a full investigation to see if the owner failed to evacuate residents or if he intentionally obstructed efforts to check on patients
- There will be aggressive legal action if called for
- Historically, more people are lost after the storm
- Driving into flood water
- CO poisoning
- Heat exhaustion
- "We need everybody to be very careful or very patient," he said.
- Staying hydrated may be difficult
- Burn ban in some areas due to lack of water
- 6 structures burned in Laffite Wednesday night
- President Joe Biden to visit Friday
- Register for FEMA
- 220,000 already registered
- Power
- 25,000 crewmen from 38 states restoring power
- 902,943 outages in Louisiana
- Peak was 1.1 million
- We have a long way to go
- Devastation on transmission and distribution is tremendous
- Access to gas is one of the biggest needs
- Working hard
- 8 Louisiana refineries not running; that's 2/3 fo the state's capacity
- 2 more running Friday
- 2 more running a few days after
- That's still less than hald
- Gov. Edwards spoke to the Sec of Energ who approved strategic reserve withdrawal
- Pipelines still shut down
- Making some progress
- 6,386 National Guardsmen deployed in Louisiana, including all of Louisiana's National Guardsmen and women
- More than 10,000 soldiers will be in the state in a few day to distribute food, water, ice, tarps
- Most rescues are done at the local level
- Dewatering efforts continue in several SELA parishes
- EBT users can use it for hot food in LA; normal use elsewhere
- The strongest storm tide to ever hit Lousiana happened on Sunday, he said, asking people be patient.
- Be good neighbors, he said. Offer assistance. Were all in this together
- No matter how big the elephant is, you eat an elephant one bite at a time.