Most Louisiana Customers Should Have Power by Tuesday Night

04/28/2015

CONTACTS:

Amber Ferchaud (Entergy Louisiana)
504-576-4132
afercha@entergy.com

Yolanda Pollard (Entergy New Orleans)
504-576-4132
ypollar@entergy.com

Team of 2,000 Restoring Power, Repairing Damaged Grid

NEW ORLEANS, La. – Approximately 90 percent of Louisiana customers should have power restored by Tuesday night and nearly all others affected by Monday's violent storms should have electricity restored by Wednesday.

Current estimates are customers in some of the hardest hit areas near Baton Rouge and Labadieville may not have power until Thursday. Entergy has assembled a storm team of approximately 2,000 to restore power in Louisiana as safely and quickly as possible.

As of 8 a.m. Tuesday, crews restored service to approximately 100,000 of the 176,000 customers left without power by a line of strong thunderstorms packing strong winds and tornadoes that downed trees and power lines throughout the southeastern portion of the state. There were reports of tornadoes in Kenner, Belle Chasse and Labadieville areas, and wind gusts in excess of 100 mph.

In Louisiana, the storm downed 602 line spans, broke 300 cross-arms and damaged approximately 300 utility poles and more than 130 transformers.

Power was expected to be restored by Tuesday afternoon to all customers who can take it in St. Bernard, St. James, St. John and Ascension parishes.

Power should be restored to 90 percent of customers or more in the following parishes by Tuesday night: Orleans, Ascension, Iberville, Livingston, Pointe Coupe, St. Martin, West Baton Rouge, East Feliciana, West Feliciana, Plaquemines, Lafayette, Iberia, St. Landry and Vermillion parishes.

In Jefferson Parish, the vast majority of customers that are able to accept power should have it restored by 10 p.m. Tuesday. In St. Charles Parish, restoration work should be complete in Hahnville and Paradis, but some customers in Des Allemands may not have power until Thursday.

The hard-hit areas of East Baton Rouge, Assumption, Lafourche and Tangipahoa parishes should have power restored to 90 percent of customers by Wednesday evening.

"We expect to make significant progress restoring customers today," said Dennis Dawsey, vice president of customer service. "With the exception of the most heavily damaged areas, we should have power restored to the vast majority of customers who can accept it."

Residents with damage to customer-owned equipment – such as the meter base, external breaker box or weather head – will need an electrician to make repairs before power can be restored to their property.

Where to get info

Customers are encouraged to download Entergy's mobile app at http://entergyapp.com/ to access outage maps and information. In addition, storm-preparedness tips and online services are available to customers through "Entergy Storm Center," "myAccount" and "View Outages." Through myAccount, customers can sign up to send and receive text information about power outages at their homes and businesses through their cellphones. Registration is easy.

Safety

Please be mindful of the following:

· Live wires can be deadly. Stay away from downed power lines. Call 1-800-9OUTAGE (1-800-968-8243) to report downed or dangling power lines, poles or other damaged equipment.

· Don't trim trees or remove debris on or near downed power lines. Only power company crews or their contractors should remove trees or limbs touching power lines.

· Keep away from the immediate areas where crews are working. There is always the danger of moving equipment and the possibility of construction materials or limbs or overhead wires falling to the ground.

· If you plan on using a generator for temporary power, get a licensed electrician and disconnect from the utility electric system before hooking up to your home main electric panel.

· Do not run a generator in a confined space without adequate ventilation.

· Try to stay off the roads. More traffic in bad weather leads to more accidents, including more injuries and fatalities as well as accidents that can damage electrical poles and other equipment, creating outages and impeding crews' ability to access and repair damage and slowing restoration.

Entergy reminds customers to stay away from downed power lines. Report them by calling 1-800-9OUTAGE. For real-time progress on restoration work see the View Outages feature at entergy.com.

Entergy's Louisiana utility companies provide electric service to more than one million customers through the operating companies Entergy Louisiana, LLC and Entergy Gulf States Louisiana, L.L.C. and natural gas service to nearly 93,000 customers in the greater Baton Rouge area through Entergy Gulf States Louisiana. With operations in southern, central and northeastern Louisiana, the companies are subsidiaries of Entergy Corporation.

Entergy New Orleans, Inc. is an electric and gas utility that serves Louisiana's Orleans Parish. The company provides electricity to more than 171,000 customers and natural gas to some 105,000 customers. Entergy New Orleans is a subsidiary of Entergy Corporation.

Entergy Corporation is an integrated energy company engaged primarily in electric power production and retail distribution operations. Entergy owns and operates power plants with approximately 30,000 megawatts of electric generating capacity, including nearly 10,000 megawatts of nuclear power, making it one of the nation's leading nuclear generators. Entergy delivers electricity to 2.8 million utility customers in Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi and Texas. Entergy has annual revenues of more than $12 billion and approximately 13,000 employees.

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