Nearly 400,000 Without Power in Louisiana After Francine Hits

TERREBONNE PARISH, La. (KPEL News) - Several parishes in southeast Louisiana are struggling in the wake of Hurricane Francine making landfall, and hundreds of thousands are currently without power.

Coastal parishes are seeing an almost total blackout today while utility companies rush to get power restored, but it's an effort that could take days.

Get our free mobile app

According to the website PowerOutage.us, roughly 375,000 utility customers are without power at this time, and parishes like St. Mary and Terrebonne are almost completely without power.

There are nearly 280,000 Entergy customers who are currently without power, and the company says they are working to restore power as quickly as possible.

"As of Tuesday morning, approximately 1,600 employees and contractors are on the ground in Louisiana, with an additional 3,400 resources requested—bringing the total to around 5,000 personnel, including lineworkers, tree trimmers, scouts, and support staff," Entergy said in a news release on Tuesday.

"Of the 5,000 anticipated resources, approximately 1,400 will be tree trimmers tasked with removing vegetation to allow lineworkers to safely repair and work on electric equipment," the company also noted. "This allocation is double the number of tree trimmers used for previous storms, such as hurricanes Isidore and Lili."

Cleco, which currently has about 35,000 customers without power, also set up several staging areas around the state.

"Cleco has set up 11 staging areas across the state with materials and equipment, as well as assembled a team that includes Cleco employees and 1,755 additional line mechanics, tree trimmers and damage assessors," Cleco said in a Wednesday news release.

Power Outages By Parish

Here are the outages by parish, as of 9 a.m. on Thursday morning.

• Ascension - 40,000

• East Baton Rouge - 16,000

• Iberia - 2,500

• Iberville - 2,500

• Lafourche - 36,000

• Livingston - 23,000

• Orleans - 51,000

• St. Bernard - 1,000

• St. Charles - 8,200

• St. James - 4,800

• St. John the Baptist - 14,000

• St. Martin - 700

• St. Mary - 14,000

• Tangipahoa - 22,000

• Terrebonne - 26,000

• Washington - 7,300

How Long Could Power Be Out?

Entergy noted earlier this week on its website that some places could be without power for up to a week.

"Based on historical restoration times, customers in the direct path of a Category 1 hurricane can experience outages for up to seven days, up to 10 days for a Category 2 and up to two weeks for a Category 3," the company said. "Once our workers can access the affected areas, we can begin restoring service to customers by closing circuit breakers, rerouting power and other means. But we must wait until sustained winds are less than 30 mph to use our bucket trucks."

With widespread outages across south Louisiana, that could mean several days without power for south Louisiana. But with utility companies maximizing their presence and using staging areas to ensure fast response, it's clear they are working as fast as they can.