Sept. 2, 2008
Hurricane Gustav made landfall Sept. 1, at 10 a.m., near Cocodrie, Louisiana.
At the peak, 850,000 Entergy customers, primarily in Louisiana and Mississippi, had lost electrical service due to the storm.
Hurricane Gustav caused the second largest number of outages in company history, behind only Hurricane Katrina. Gustav restoration rivals the scale and difficulty of Hurricane Katrina restoration.
As of 11 a.m., more than 826,000 customers were still without power throughout the Entergy service territory.
Nearly 24,000 Entergy customers have been restored whose electrical service was disrupted by Hurricane Gustav.
Outages peaked at midnight last night at 850,000. This is the second largest outage in company history, behind only Hurricane Katrina.
Bad weather from the storm continues in the Entergy system, impeding progress to restore service and assess damage. Early assessments indicate extensive damage to Entergy’s system in Louisiana.
Entergy’s team of more than 10,000 restoration workers has begun safely restoring service as quickly as possible.
Entergy’s transmission system has sustained massive damage, with 191 transmission lines and 210 substations out of service.
The New Orleans area to near Baton Rouge remains essentially an island, no longer electrically connected to the rest of the system. Waterford 1, Nine Mile Point and Little Gypsy are now supplying all power to this area because all transmission lines leading to and from the area are out of service.
Entergy restoration organizers are assessing how to best to tie and synchronize this area back into the Entergy system. This will be a very delicate operation requiring close coordination between generation, transmission, distribution and other Entergy functions.
Entergy’s Waterford 3 Nuclear Plant near New Orleans completed a controlled shutdown on Sunday night in accordance with procedure at approximately 10:30 p.m. in anticipation of the heavy winds that were forecast for Monday morning.
River Bend Nuclear Station was brought offline on Monday evening due to loss of demand caused by extensive outages in the region.
Personnel at both plants are performing site assessments this morning and working closely with the Nuclear Regulatory Commission and Federal Emergency Management Agency to determine a timeline for restart.
Bringing the plants online will be closely coordinated with utility company personnel to maintain the reliability of the power grid.
The number of outages already known to have been caused by Gustav is the second highest in Entergy’s 95-year history. The only larger numbers were 1.1 million during Hurricane Katrina, which has been described as one of the worst natural disasters in American history, and 800,000 during Hurricane Rita, which occurred back-to-back in August and September of 2005.
With many people evacuated from coastal Louisiana and thus unavailable to report outages, the total number is expected to grow. As customers return to their homes, Entergy requests that they report their outages. The fastest way is to dial 800-9OUTAGE and use the automated system.
The time required to restore service is unknown at this time. Determining the time required is dependent on when the company can assess damage to its facilities.
Entergy preparations began early last week, well in advance of Hurricane Gustav. Entergy is nationally recognized as a leader in the industry at restoring major damage safely and quickly.
Entergy reminds customers to remain safe and stay away from downed power lines and flooded areas. Do not walk in standing water and do not venture into areas of debris, since energized and dangerous power lines may not be visible. Call 800-9OUTAGE to report a power outage.