After Hurricane Francine rushed through Louisiana on Wednesday evening, more than 35,000 Entergy customers across the Capital Region remain without power, unsure of when it will return.
While some businesses like City Roots Coffee Bar and Boru Ramen at Electric Depot reported losing power overnight, it was back by Thursday morning.
Entergy Louisiana senior communications specialist David Freese says it’s too soon to give time estimates for when power will be restored in affected areas of Baton Rouge.
“Today is day one of us getting into the field,” Freese says. “In order for us to provide the estimates, we have to know what’s out there, the damages and what people are needed. We’re going to be able to provide some high-level and neighborhood estimates as soon as we get more intel.”
In preparation of the storm, Entergy strategically positioned its team near projected affected areas in Louisiana. Freese says Entergy has a storm team of more than 6,000 people dedicated to restoring power in Louisiana including line workers, 2,000 tree trimmers, damage scouts, and logistics and support personnel.
On Wednesday, Entergy crew members stayed in Baton Rouge hotels in an effort to restore power as soon as possible Thursday. Freese says the power company also staged materials and supplies such as utility poles and power line equipment at a local park for easy access.
Though it’s still early to determine a full damage assessment, Freese says preliminary indications are that most of the outages were the result of power distribution levels and tree limbs.
As of 2:30 p.m. Thursday afternoon, Entergy’s outage map indicated nearly 8,000 East Baton Rouge Parish customers were still without power. Livingston Parish still had nearly 5,500 outages and Ascension Parish close to 23,000.
“We just ask for patience and support for the men and women that are out there in the field performing what is at times dangerous work, but also critically important work,” Freese says. “So just hang tight. We’re coming. The storm team is fully engaged and activated. We’re going to get it done.”
