Ida was most destructive hurricane ever, power company says

Hurricane Ida did much harm to Louisiana's electrical grid than immoderate different tempest successful the past of the state, a section powerfulness institution said Sunday.

In fact, Entergy Louisiana says Ida did much harm to the grid than Hurricanes Katrina (2005), Delta (2020) and Zeta (2020) combined.

Ida, which made landfall arsenic a Category 4 tempest with sustained winds of 150 mph, knocked retired powerfulness to much than 900,000 Entergy customers crossed southeast Louisiana. According to Entergy, the tempest "devastated" Louisiana's powerfulness grid, damaging much than 30,000 inferior poles, adjacent to 35,000 spans of ligament and 5,600 transformers.

"We're seeing doubly arsenic overmuch harm arsenic what we had with Laura [in 2020]," said Joe Book, the elder manager of organisation engineering for Entergy successful Louisiana. "We've ne'er seen thing this large. Even with Katrina, the harm was extended to aggregate states. With Ida, astir each of the harm is present successful Louisiana."

Even without the electrical strategy being wholly assessed, Ida's harm to organisation inferior poles is astir treble that of Laura, which devastated southwest Louisiana conscionable 1 twelvemonth ago.

Compared to Hurricane Katrina, Ida has seen much than 5,000 spans of ligament — the magnitude of ligament from 1 inferior rod to different — damaged.

"Ida had the devastating interaction similar Laura successful a circumstantial region, positive it impacted 3 neighboring regions including the 2 largest metropolitan areas successful Louisiana," said Chip Arnold, Louisiana operations and information elder manager. "So, the infrastructure harm totals are larger, and successful summation to that, the breadth of our work territory that was impacted was overmuch greater."

Company officials accidental the biggest situation Entergy crews look is replacing much than 24,000 inferior poles, which enactment the powerfulness lines that present energy from substations to homes and businesses. Replacing poles tin beryllium difficult, particularly considering the geographical challenges presented by the impacted region, they say.

Distribution poles tin beryllium recovered successful and astir marshes, swamps, rivers, heavy wooded areas, and assorted hard-to-reach locations.

Entergy officials accidental they came prepared to conscionable these challenges, utilizing vehicles and instrumentality similar helicopters and drones to find damaged infrastructure, airboats and marsh buggies to entree waterways and rear-ally machines to maneuver choky spaces successful residential areas.

In immoderate cases, lineworkers person been forced to ascent inferior poles without the assistance of dense machinery astatine all, arsenic factors similar muddy terrain and constricted abstraction lone let for trained employees to equine poles with peculiar boots, information ropes and the assistance of unit members.

"While our workforce is trained to measure each situation, run the due machinery and execute enactment that safely and efficaciously replaces damaged electrical equipment, the unsocial interaction of Ida initiated a telephone for extracurricular help. Nearly 27,000 restoration workers from 41 states person travel to assistance Entergy's efforts to reconstruct power," institution officials say.

In the week since Ida made landfall successful Louisiana, Entergy has restored powerfulness to astir 350,000 customers. According to PowerOutages.us, much than 500,000 customers successful the authorities are inactive without electricity.

"The wide harm and interaction inflicted by Hurricane Ida was felt by truthful galore crossed Louisiana," said Phillip May, the CEO of Entergy Louisiana. "We are overcoming caller challenges each day, and our tempest squad volition march guardant until we've brought the lights backmost to each of the communities we serve."

This communicative was primitively published connected Scripps presumption KATC successful Lafayette, Louisiana.