ELMWOOD, La. — ELMWOOD, La. -- Most of Jefferson Parish had power restored by Tuesday, but some council members said that some areas still lacked lights 16 days after Hurricane Ida made landfall.
While Entergy said it’s working to make repairs as fast as possible, the council questioned its proactive maintenance more than its reactive repairs.
Council members used the collapsed tower on the West Bank, which left 100 percent of Orleans and Jefferson parishes in the dark, as a poster child for problems with the system.
“It was a bucket of rust from the very top to the very bottom. And that's the mere fact. And that's why it collapsed,” said District 2 Councilman Deano Bonano. “It wasn't properly maintained. And if an inspector went to look at that, then he needs to find another job because he did not inspect it properly.”
Councilman Dominick Impastato, who is an attorney by trade, said Entergy is not known for vigorous inspections of its power poles.
“Pole inspections -- I know for a fact I've deposed Entergy officials in my private life and they've said unabashedly they inspect every pole once every 10 years. That's a horrific statistic for the public,” Impastato said.
He said that after Hurricane Andrew in 1992, Jefferson Parish shifted much of its focus to improving its drainage system.
He said Ida nearly three decades later should now shift the attention to an aging -- and vulnerable -- power grid.
“The trend is … not getting better. It's getting worse,” he said.
Patrick Hamby, an Entergy customer service manager, told the council that work is already underway to review equipment and the utility’s response to the storm.
“We do an after-action review -- lessons learned -- and all of that will be evaluated as part of that. We are putting up stronger, thicker, taller poles when we can,” he said.
Meanwhile, the council had sharp words for Cox Communications, which is still working to restore cable and internet service in some areas.
A Cox representative told the council that service in Metairie should be restored by Wednesday, while service in Kenner should be back on Sunday.
Other hard-hit parts of the parish, including the West Bank and coastal areas, do not yet have an estimated time of restoration.
“You guys sent out a press release, I believe, it was Sunday, in which the optics were not good. The bottom of the press release said trucks are now on the way from north Virginia to Jefferson, 16 days after the storm,” Bonano said. “Do you appreciate the optics of that? Not very good.”