JEFFERSON PARISH, La. — Two days after Tropical Storm Olga brought down trees and power lines across the state, parts of Jefferson Parish are still in the dark.
Metairie
In Metairie, it's a busy time for weekend shoppers. Grocery stores such as Rouses Market and Stein Mart on Veterans Boulevard were filled with customers looking to buy what they had lost from fridges and freezers.
Next door at the Spirit Halloween store power has been restored, but the loss of business still stings.
The Halloween-themed store lost power Saturday morning before employees showed up to work. Instead of opening at 9 a.m. on what should have been the busiest day of the year for the store, employees sat outside and redirected customers to other stores further away.
"We turned away hundreds and hundreds of people yesterday," store manager Morgan Stonecipher said. "We sat outside and we told people the addresses of our two sister stores and wished them the best of luck on their Halloween adventures trying to find what they needed for their parties and for Halloween night."
Harahan
Down Causeway Boulevard in Harahan, some neighborhoods still had spotty power. While the Saints game played behind some doors, others were still in the dark Sunday afternoon.
Tom Teachworth was able to save the food in his fridge because a generous neighbor still had power and ran an extension cord over their shared fence.
"It saved all of my food in my refrigerator, all my freezer," he said.
Pointing from the Entergy app on his phone to the power line in front of his house, Teachworth said the utility company likely wouldn't restore power to him and the rest of his neighbors until 10 p.m. Monday.
"That storm came out of nowhere, and look at the damage it did," he said. "There's no way I'm going to get energized with that wire hanging."
But Teachworth is lucky compared to his neighbor next door, whose front-yard palm tree snapped halfway up the trunk and fell onto the roof.
The Harahan neighborhood's story of downed trees and spotty service wasn't unique over the weekend.
Kenner
In Kenner, just east of the New Orleans International Airport, the hum of generators fought to drown out the roar of airplanes overhead.
"I'm trying to make a Sunday meal in the dark, basically. I've got the windows open, and the generator, I was able to plug my refrigerator up, but the deep freezer's where I keep all my meat," said Nora Duncan, who lives with her husband in the neighborhood.
Her brother-in-law's generator is keeping the essentials powered on at her house, but Entergy reportedly told her she wouldn't get the lights back on until 10 p.m. Sunday.
"They have lights," she said, gesturing to houses on her street. "I don't have lights, he don't have lights but the people on the other side of him have lights. Everybody on the other side of the street has lights. I'm so aggravated right now."
One street down, neighbors were trying to make the best of a bad situation. In Hector Cuellar's front yard, folding chairs were set up in front of a TV resting on the tailgate of a truck. Across the lawn, another truck was supplying power while the Saints played the Arizona Cardinals.
"We always cook on Sundays," Cuellar said. "That TV, usually it's hanging in the back."
Closer to the I-10, a large downed tree blocked half of a two-lane residential road. Caught underneath the bulk of the tree is a power line - possibly the reason some of that neighborhood's residents don't have power. The power line is also touching a house on the streetcorner, pressed against the roof by the weight of the tree further down the line.
Sheila Jones, who lives across the street from the tree, doesn't know why it wasn't a bigger priority for Entergy.
"This is a hazard," she said. "If something happens, it could make the house go on fire or something."
She said Entergy had promised power would come back around 10 p.m., but it may be too late already.
"I have a lot of stuff in my freezer, in my refrigerator," Jones said. "I don't want my meat or anything to go bad because I don't have the money to replace that."
Jones, who said she uses food stamps for groceries, said about $150 in food was likely spoiled in her house already. For her: a fortune.
"Entergy needs to come out here and fix this," she said. "This is ridiculous."
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