WDSU TV, the Hearst station in New Orleans, reported that now a week after Hurricane Ida made landfall, thousands of Louisiana residents are still struggling to dig out of the wreckage, and to secure basic necessities. Gov. John Bel Edwards gave a news conference on Sept. 4, stating that his priority is to get the power back on as quickly as possible; he’s expected to give an update late Sept. 5. The outages are due to not only generating capacity being damaged, but also the infrastructure needed to transmit the power.
The U.S. Army Corp of Engineers is working intensely with local, state and federal agencies to install emergency power, implement temporary roof installation, and drain floodwaters. They have deployed the 249th Engineer Battalion to immediately set up and provide commercial-level power generation.
