Access to gas remains one of Louisiana’s most important needs after Hurricane Ida, Gov. John Bel Edwards said. Gas station outages are increasing in Louisiana’s two largest cities, with an impressive 68.5% of gas stations in Baton Rouge and 64.7% in New Orleans without gasoline, according to compiled outage reports by GasBuddy.
Analysts said these gas station crashes are being caused by a combination of growing demand as people leave the region and complications in supplying fuel caused by power outages. Tanker truck drivers, for example, often cannot fill up if there is no energy in the terminal racks that dispense fuel to refineries.
The Federal Emergency Management Agency has sent more than 1,100 employees to support the response to the storm in the region. The agency has also awarded about $ 93 million in individual aid, officials said.
For the parish of St. Tammany, state Rep. Mark Wright said efforts to restore power exceeded expectations.
“I know we initially thought we were talking for three to four weeks, you know, we’ll see where it goes from here, but things are moving forward,” Wright said.
But much of the work depends on gas and many families need supplies to supply their generators. Some residents faced darkness and heat to find fuel.
This “will alleviate any logistical problems of the transfer of crude oil within the areas affected by Hurricane Ida to ensure that the region has access to fuel as soon as possible,” the Department of Energy said in a statement.
Catastrophic damage to Lafourche
Lafourche “took on the weight of this storm,” enduring sustained winds of more than 130 km / h for 12 hours, Lafourche parish president Archie Chaisson said Thursday.
Chaisson estimated that about 25% of homes had been catastrophically damaged, while another 30% to 40% have severe damage. Crews remain on the ground clearing roads, Chaisson said, and garbage collection should begin Friday.
The two parish shelters have been closed “due to limited electricity supply” and these residents have been relocated to Ascension parish until further notice, Chaisson said.
“We are working with FEMA to try to figure out how to protect these people,” he said, noting that “hotel rooms are scarce because many of the rooms were also damaged.”
Death of 4 residents in residences
Three of the deaths have been classified as storm-related, according to LDH.
The Department of Health said it heard reports of “deteriorating conditions” at the facility after Hurricane Ida hit land and inspectors were sent to visit the site on Tuesday, but were evicted from the property. and a full assessment was avoided, according to LDH.
After that, health department officials began relocating people from the warehouse, starting with the most vulnerable. “In just over 24 hours, all 843 residents were removed from the facility,” Edwards said.
Authorities will investigate whether the facility did not maintain the safety of residents, whether officials were prevented from reviewing it, and what the conditions of the facility were, Edwards said.
Power returns to hospitals
After completing his first estimate Thursday, Entergy Louisiana president and CEO Phillip May says he hopes to restore power to “the majority” of customers in the Baton Rouge area who can take power on May 8. September.
CNN’s Rebekah Riess, Matt Egan, Geneva Sands, Gregory Lemos, Keith Allen, and Amanda Watts contributed to this report.