THURSDAY, March 28, 2024
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13 dead, 500,000 customers out of power in U.S. Louisiana week after Ida

13 dead, 500,000 customers out of power in U.S. Louisiana week after Ida

Up to now, Ida is the deadliest hurricane the United States has seen in four years and the deadliest storm in the Northeast since 2012s Superstorm Sandy.

Thirteen people have died and nearly 500,000 homes and businesses remain out of power as of Monday afternoon in southern U.S. state of Louisiana, one week after Ida's landfall as a Category 4 hurricane in the coastal state, according to the tracking website PowerOutage.us.

Most residents in New Orleans, the state's largest city, will have power by Wednesday, but some of the hardest-hit areas may be in the dark until the end of this month, Entergy, the major power provider in the state, estimates.

Ida damaged or destroyed more than 22,000 power poles, 26,000 spans of wire and 5,261 transformers, according to a USA Today report, citing the company as the source.

At the peak, 902,000 customers had lost power, said the report.

Entergy said during the weekend that some 24,000 people were working "around the clock" to restore power.

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In another development, the Louisiana Department of Health confirmed the state's 13th Ida-related death on Sunday. A 74-year-old man in Orleans Parish died from heat during the power outage.

The state's death toll also includes five nursing home residents evacuated ahead of the hurricane along with hundreds of other seniors to a warehouse, where health officials said conditions became unsafe, said the USA Today report.

In total, at least 17 deaths were blamed on Ida in the three southern U.S. states of Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama. In the Northeast, Ida's remnants dumped record-breaking rain and killed at least 50 people in Virginia, New York and Connecticut.

Ida landed on the 16th anniversary of Hurricane Katrina's destructive strike, tying with 2020's Hurricane Laura and the Last Island Hurricane of 1856 as the strongest ever to hit Louisiana.

Up to now, Ida is the deadliest hurricane the United States has seen in four years and the deadliest storm in the Northeast since 2012's Superstorm Sandy, which killed more than 100 people, according to local media reports.

Power line poles are seen downed by Hurricane Ida in Houma, Louisiana, the United States, Aug. 30, 2021.  

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