Following Hurricane Ida making landfall near Port Fourchon, Louisiana on Aug. 29, Entergy Corporation announced on Sept. 21, its utilities have restored power to about 932,000 customers, which is 98% of customers affected by the storm. Entergy is still making significant progress in the remaining hardest-hit areas of southeast Louisiana. Crews have restored power to all affected Entergy customers in Mississippi. To read a Sept. 28 update, click here.
In response to the extensive damage caused by the storm, Entergy deployed a workforce of about 27,000 workers from 41 states.
"We are grateful for the thousands of men and women who worked tirelessly to safely restore power for our customers," said Rod West, Entergy utility group president. "Hurricane Ida inflicted significant damage on Entergy's electric system that resulted in 948,000 outages at its peak. Our job is not yet complete and despite the extent of the damage, the teams have made significant progress. We anticipate that all remaining customers who can safely take power should be restored by Sept. 29."
Damage Assessment
Hurricane Ida's historic intensity brought a tremendous amount of damage to the Entergy distribution and transmission systems in southeast Louisiana. The storm's damage across Entergy's system included:
- more than 30,500 distribution poles,
- nearly 6,000 transformers,
- nearly 36,500 spans of distribution wire,
- approximately 500 transmission structures damaged or destroyed,
- more than 225 substations, and
- more than 210 transmission lines.
Over the past five years, Entergy's operating companies have invested $9.5 billion in transmission and distribution assets that met or exceeded then-current resiliency standards. Ida demonstrated the resiliency benefits of these investments. Along a transmission path originating in Port Fourchon, where Ida made landfall, only three out of the 387 newer, more resilient structures were destroyed. In contrast, a seven-mile transmission line with pre-1997 design structures along this same path was taken down by Ida, with more than half of the line's structures destroyed.
Hurricane Ida presented a severe wind-loading event that caused significant damage to the distribution system. With strong Category 4 strength winds upon landfall and sustained hurricane strength winds through New Orleans and beyond, Ida caused substantially more distribution pole damage than previous storms. On key lines in coastal areas, poles are being replaced with more resilient Class 1 grade distribution poles that can be configured to withstand winds of more than 130 miles per hour, which exceeds current requirements. To meet the intensity of future weather events, Entergy recognizes the need for accelerated system hardening, as well as continuing to advance its preventive maintenance programs including vegetation management and pole inspections.
As part of the recovery efforts, Entergy has worked to provide support for its communities while they recover from Ida. The company deployed 165 commercial scale generators to power critical community infrastructure such as medical facilities, gas stations, grocery stores, municipal water systems and community cooling centers in advance of their power being restored. Further, Entergy's shareholders committed $1.25 million in financial support to help affected communities rebuild and recover from the storm.
For additional information on Entergy's restoration efforts following Hurricane Ida, visit entergy.com/hurricaneida.
