Hurricane Ida: Millions without power in New Orleans and southern Louisiana amid high temperatures

by Karen Faulkner, Worthy News Correspondent

(Worthy News) – Millions of residents of New Orleans and southern Louisiana struggling to cope without power after Hurricane Ida slammed into their region, may have to wait up to 30 days for electricity to be restored, Voice of America (VOA) reports.

The lack of electricity is all the more difficult amid extremely high temperatures and worries about hospitals full of COVID-19 patients and people falling ill from the heat without air-conditioning.

Electricity lines that serve New Orleans and much of southern Louisiana were damaged or demolished when Ida hit on Sunday, and state authorities and regional utility company Entergy have said it may take a month to restore power to the whole area, VOA reports. However, some service could be restored in New Orleans by Wednesday evening.

Hospitals are working with emergency generators, emergency centers have been opened to allow residents to cool down, charge mobile devices and receive food and water, VOA said. Residents have been waiting in long lines to buy gas needed to run their own generators.

“Many of the life-supporting infrastructure elements are not present, they’re not operating right now,” Louisiana Governor John Bel Edwards said in a statement Tuesday.

Ida hit the region 16 years to the day that Hurricane Katrina crashed into New Orleans, killing 1,800 people and trapping thousands of residents for days.

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