Louisiana communities battered by Hurricane Ida are facing a new danger: the possibility of weeks without power in the stifling, late-summer heat.
Ida ravaged the region’s power grid, leaving the entire city of New Orleans and hundreds of thousands of other Louisiana residents in the dark with no clear timeline on when power would return. Louisiana Gov. John Bel Edwards said 25,000 utility workers were in the state to help restore electricity, with more on the way. Officials say it could be weeks before electricity is restored in some spots. At least four deaths were blamed on the storm.
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On Monday, rescuers in boats, helicopters and high-water trucks brought more than 670 people in Louisiana trapped by floodwaters to safety. An additional 20 people were rescued in Mississippi. Crews planned to go door to door in hard-hit areas to make sure everyone got out safely.
Photos show Jeremy Hodges holding on to a lamp at his family’s destroyed storage unit in Houma, Louisiana. Sharon Orlando tries to hold back tears as she surveys the damage to her home in Destrehan, Louisiana. Cyclists pedal through knee-deep water in New Orleans while others wait in line for groceries at stores without power.
Hurricane Ida blew ashore on the 16th anniversary of Katrina, the 2005 storm that breached New Orleans’ levees, devastated the city and was blamed for 1,800 deaths.
This time, New Orleans, protected by a major overhaul of its levees since Katrina, escaped the catastrophic flooding some had feared.