It will likely take days to determine the extent of damage to Entergy’s power grid on the New Orleans subway and much longer to restore power transmission to the region, company executives said Monday morning.
Four parishes in southeastern Louisiana – and parts of two more – had the main power source when eight Entergy transmission lines failed with strong winds from Hurricane Ida, including a tower that fell into the Mississippi River.
New Orleans is in the dark, along with the parishes of Jefferson, St. Bernard and Plaquemines, as well as some of the parishes of St. Charles and Terrebonne.
A massive failure of the transmission system that carries electricity to New Orleans and the east bank of Jefferson Parish left the city completely …
But so far exactly what caused the transmission lines to close after Ida hit land in Port Fourchon, as a devastating Category 4 hurricane is unclear, as the devastating storm winds have prevented crews from carry out a damage assessment.
“We’ll know more tomorrow. We hope we take advantage of that, once we have boots on the ground,” said Deanna Rodriguez, president and CEO of Entergy New Orleans, about 1 p.m.
An electric transmission tower along the Mississippi River in Avondale that supplies power to New Orleans and the east bank of Jefferson Par …
The eight transmission lines are the arteries that carry most of the electricity used by the New Orleans region from other parts of the state. This means that the total restoration of energy depends on the fixing of such equipment, as well as the repair of normal power lines that bring electricity to homes and businesses.
Approximately 850,000 customers were without electricity when storm winds subsided Sunday night.
Failed transmission lines include a massive tower that collapsed into the Mississippi River near Avondale during the storm. This tower “did not waver” when Hurricane Katrina struck 16 years before Ida, Engygy Louisiana President and President Philip Mays said.
But without knowing what happened to the others, Mays said it was impossible to know what would need to be fixed for them.
“We don’t know that these lines are damaged or destroyed, we know all eight don’t work,” Mays said. “It’s true that it may be resolved relatively quickly.”
But he said, given the collapse of the Avondale tower and the fact that all eight had failed, Mays said he suspected they were all badly damaged.
Mays and Rodriguez said the company’s planners were working on various scenarios to restore energy. It is possible that putting some of the transmission lines back in line could allow some of the electricity to be restored in the region, Mays said.
Entergy utility trucks are parked on the Canal St. tramway. as Hurricane Ida approaches the Louisiana coast in New Orleans, La …
It’s also possible that Entergy’s plants in the area, such as New Orleans East’s relatively new and controversial gas plant, could provide some energy to the area, Rodriguez said.
The New Orleans Entergy feeds on the Sewerage & Water Board – which helps feed many of the city’s drainage pumps – which fell as Hurricane …
Beyond the transmission lines, the company must also reconnect individual customers, a process that will involve 20,000 employees of Entergy and other utilities. But that will also take time.
“Geographically we’re talking about a fairly large geographic area, so that’s going to take a while,” Mays said. As for the damage, we will come to estimates of how quickly we can begin to restore energy. “