Crews continue assessing damage from Hurricane Ida

PINEVILLE, La. – Aug. 31, 2021 (11 a.m.) – With over 100,000 Cleco customers left without power after Hurricane Ida moved across southeast Louisiana as a Category 4 Hurricane on Sunday and Monday, Cleco continues to assess damage and restore power to critical infrastructure. 

“Our focus remains on responding to unsafe electrical situations and restoring power to essential services and facilities like water systems and hospitals.  At the same time, we are assessing damage to get a better idea of how Ida impacted our transmission and distribution systems,” said Clint Robichaux, manager of distribution operations support.  “Initial reports are showing minimal structural damage and tree interference to our transmission system, but catastrophic damage on the distribution side, meaning our restoration efforts could be a multi-week event in St. Tammany and Washington parishes.” 

Cleco anticipates repairs to its transmission system will be complete within 24 hours.  Additionally, the company states that 75 percent of the distribution damage assessments will be complete by Friday, at which time they will have more information on the extent of system repairs and a restoration timeline.

“At the same time damage assessors are surveying damage to the system and equipment, our crews are beginning to make repairs and provide estimated restoration times to our customers,” said Robichaux.  “The more information we have about the damage, the more accurate our restoration estimates will be.” 

Restoration

Below are estimated times for restoration (ETR).  Additional ETRs will be shared, as they become available.  Please note that unexpected damage or inclement weather could impact restoration efforts and timelines. 

St. Mary Parish

• ETR for Franklin is today, Tuesday, Aug. 31
• ETR for Patterson/Berwick is tomorrow, Wednesday, Sept. 1

St. Tammany Parish

• Today, Tuesday, Aug. 31, crews continue working to restoring power to Lakeview Hospital and St. Tammany Hospital
• Some customers on Dove Park Road and Hwy 59 will have power restored today, Tuesday, Aug. 31
• Power was restored yesterday to 90 percent of Slidell Memorial Hospital. Crews are working to restore full power today, Tuesday, Aug. 31
• Off of Terrace Ave. in Slidell is a city sewer pumping station which crews are working to restore power to today

Power Outages as of 11:30 a.m.