No power, no flights, little drinking water in Ida’s aftermath

NEW ORLEANS — Louisiana communities opening the immense task of clearing debris and repairing the harm inflicted by Hurricane Ida are facing the dispiriting imaginable of weeks without energy successful the oppressive, late-summer heat.

Ida ravaged the region’s powerfulness grid, leaving each of New Orleans and hundreds of thousands of different Louisiana residents successful the acheronian with nary wide timeline connected erstwhile the energy would travel backmost on. Some areas extracurricular New Orleans besides suffered large flooding and harm to homes and businesses.

“I can’t archer you erstwhile the powerfulness is going to beryllium restored. I can’t archer you erstwhile each the debris is going to beryllium cleaned up and repairs made,” Gov. John Bel Edwards said Monday. “But what I tin archer you is we are going to enactment hard each time to present arsenic overmuch assistance arsenic we can.”

The tempest was blamed for astatine slightest 4 deaths successful Louisiana and Mississippi, including 2 radical killed Monday nighttime erstwhile 7 vehicles plunged into a 20-foot-deep (6-meter-deep) spread adjacent Lucedale, Mississippi, wherever a road had collapsed aft torrential rains.

On Monday, rescuers successful boats, helicopters and high-water trucks brought much than 670 radical successful Louisiana trapped by floodwaters to safety. An further 20 radical were rescued successful Mississippi. Crews planned to spell doorway to doorway successful hard-hit areas to marque definite everyone got retired safely.

Also stuck successful New Orleans were tourists who didn’t get retired earlier the storm. The airdrome canceled each incoming and outgoing commercialized flights for a 3rd day, saying the deficiency of powerfulness and h2o meant nary aerial conditioning oregon restrooms.

Adding to the misery was the steamy weather. A vigor advisory was issued for New Orleans and the remainder of the region, with forecasters saying the operation of precocious temperatures and humidity could marque it consciousness similar 105 degrees Fahrenheit (41 degrees Celsius) connected Tuesday and 106 connected Wednesday.

Power crews rushed into the region. Louisiana’s politician said 25,000 inferior workers were connected the crushed successful the authorities to assistance reconstruct electricity, with much connected the way.

Still, his bureau described harm to the powerfulness grid arsenic “catastrophic,” and powerfulness officials said it could beryllium weeks earlier energy is restored successful immoderate spots.

More than 1 cardinal homes and businesses successful Louisiana and Mississippi were near without powerfulness arsenic Ida pushed done connected Sunday with winds that reached 150 mph (240 kph). The upwind velocity tied it for the fifth-strongest hurricane ever to deed the mainland.

A elephantine operation that carries cardinal transmission lines implicit the Mississippi River to the New Orleans country twisted and collapsed successful the storm, and powerfulness institution Entergy said much than 2,000 miles of transmission lines were knocked retired of work on with 216 substations. The tempest besides flattened inferior poles, toppled trees onto powerfulness lines and caused transformers to explode.

In New Orleans, metropolis officials told residents without powerfulness determination was nary crushed to enactment oregon return, astatine slightest for a fewer days.

Pamela Mitchell said she was reasoning astir leaving portion she waited for the powerfulness to travel backmost on, but her 14-year-old daughter, Michelle, was determined to enactment and decided to cleanable retired the refrigerator and enactment perishables successful an crystal chest.

Mitchell had already spent a blistery and frightening nighttime astatine location portion Ida’s winds shrieked, and she thought the household could pugnacious it out.

“We went a week before, with Zeta,” she said, recalling an outage during the hurricane that deed the metropolis past fall.

Hank Fanberg said some of his neighbors had offered him entree to their generators. He besides had a program for food: “I person a state grill and charcoal grill.”

Some places are besides facing shortages of drinking water. Eighteen h2o systems were out, affecting much than 312,000 people, and an further 14 systems serving 329,000 radical were nether boil-water advisories, the politician said.

Hurricane Ida blew ashore connected the 16th day of Katrina, the 2005 tempest that breached New Orleans’ levees, devastated the metropolis and was blamed for 1,800 deaths.

This time, New Orleans, protected by a large overhaul of its levees since Katrina, escaped the catastrophic flooding immoderate had feared.

In Mississippi’s southwestern corner, full neighborhoods were surrounded by floodwaters, and galore roads were impassable. Several tornadoes were reported, including a suspected twister successful Saraland, Alabama, that ripped portion of the extortion disconnected a motel and flipped an 18-wheeler, injuring the driver.

Ida’s remnants continued to bring dense rainfall and flooding to parts of the Tennessee and Ohio valleys. Flash flooding and mudslides were imaginable astir Washington connected Thursday and successful New England connected Friday.