Hurricane Ida
Post-Ida New Orleans is facing triple-digit heat with no power, little gas, scarce tap water
As southeastern Louisiana worked to clean up the mess of Hurricane Ida, the heat arrived. "Temperatures rose along with tempers on Tuesday amid dwindling access to gas, groceries, and patience across the greater New Orleans region, as an extended period without electricity began to take its toll in Hurricane Ida's wake," The New Orleans Advocate reports. There are worse things than hunting for supplies in heat-index temperatures of 106 degrees without power or water, but it isn't pleasant.
"I love my city. I'm built for this. But I can't make it without any air conditioning," Renell Debose, who spent a week suffering in the Superdome 16 years ago after Hurricane Katrina, told Politico while waiting in line for gas at Costco. Shelly Huff, also waiting in line, said she has "great neighbors — one who evacuated left us a generator" — but any longer than a week without power "and I'm going have to get out of town."
New Orleans resident Algon Greenberry told The Associated Press he'll "make it through" the heat, even if he can't obtain a generator to run air conditioning.
Louisiana Gov. John Bel Edwards (D), touring the area with FEMA Administrator Deanne Criswell on Tuesday, said about 25,000 line workers are hustling to restore power to the more than a million customers without, but "we have a lot of work ahead of us and no one is under the illusion that this is going to be a short process." Entergy initially predicted it could take weeks or even a month to get power restored — all eight of its main transmission lines to New Orleans failed — but the utility told New Orleans officials on Tuesday that some parts of the city could get power back on as soon as Wednesday night.
Federal officials said about 441,000 people across the region have no running water, and 319,000 more were under boil-water advisories. New Orleans Mayor LaToya Cantrell said the city is setting up centers to distribute water and food, charge electronics, and cool off from the heat, and she put New Orleans under curfew Tuesday night, citing "several" looting incidents.