About 43,000 homes and businesses in New Orleans were still without electricity on Thursday afternoon (Sept. 12) as repair crews fanned out to assess region-wide power grid damage from Hurricane Francine. 

Across the state on Thursday, nearly 225,000 customers were waiting to have power restored, according to Entergy, the region’s largest power provider. 

The utility could not give a timeline of when power would be restored until damage assessments are completed on Thursday night, said Deanna Rodriguez, president and CEO of Entergy New Orleans. The assessments were about 45% complete by noon on Thursday. 

“Please be patient with us,” she said during a press conference with New Orleans leaders on Thursday. In New Orleans, Entergy was prioritizing power restoration at nursing homes, hospitals and emergency response facilities. 

Francine made landfall as a Category 2 storm near Morgan City Wednesday evening. The hurricane then churned northeast, causing outages and street flooding in New Orleans and Jefferson Parish, which had about 47,000  customers without power on Thursday afternoon.

Entergy repair crews and contractors working in Louisiana numbered about 6,600, with about 865 active in New Orleans. 

Crews were first called to secure power sources and large transmission lines, which bring power into the city and serve industrial facilities and other large power users. Next, Entergy focused on the substations that reach power lines on residential and commercial streets.

Customers in the direct path of a Category 2 hurricane typically experience outages for up to 10 days, according to Entergy. Because Francine only brushed alongside New Orleans, restoration times will likely be quicker. 

New Orleans leaders said some parts of the city should expect to be without power  until the weekend.

“My power’s out, and I expect it might be out for four days,” New Orleans City Council member Eugene Green said Thursday. “And if it is, I’m prepared. But the Saints game is on Sunday, so let’s get that power on by then!”

For residents in need of a place to cool off with air conditioning or charge phones and other small devices, the city is opening four New Orleans Recreational Development Commission locations from 2pm to 7pm for the next couple of days:

  • Joe Brown Recreation Center, 5601 Read Blvd.
  • Treme Recreation Community Center, 900 N. Villere St.
  • Cut-Off Recreation Center, 6600 Belgrade St.
  • Rosenwald Recreation Center, 1120 S Broad St.

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Tristan Baurick is a senior reporter focusing on climate change and the environment. Before joining Verite in 2024, Baurick was a coastal and environment reporter at The Times-Picayune | Nola.com....