Entergy says it expects crews to have power restored to all customers “who can accept it” by tonight, though floodwaters continue to hamper restoration efforts to thousands of homes and businesses in the hardest hit areas of south Louisiana.
As of noon, approximately 14,000 customers were without power, down from a peak of more than 26,000 on Sunday night. Entergy says it has more than 500 people working to fix the issues, but floodwaters are preventing them from restoring power to approximately 12,500 customers.
“Work in those areas cannot begin until floodwaters recede, so the affected customers should prepare to be without power for an extended period,” the company says in a news release, noting the hardest hit areas are in eastern East Baton Rouge Parish, as well as Livingston, Tangipahoa and Ascension parishes. Entergy outages can be checked online.
Meanwhile, AT&T—whose customers in the Capital Region awoke to no phone service on Sunday morning—says wireless service has been restored “for the vast majority of our customers” as of early today.
“We are working around the clock to complete our repairs associated with the flooding of our Baton Rouge wireless switching center. Also, we are deploying additional equipment to aid emergency personnel,” the company says in a statement.
LSU says its campus will partially reopen on Tuesday with limited activities, though the LSU Child Care Center and the LSU Lab School will be closed. LSU, which also says the annual Move In Day will take place on Wednesday, has a complete rundown of activities and events that will be open Tuesday.
This afternoon, Southern University announced its campuses and offices would remain closed until 8 a.m. Thursday. Baton Rouge Community College confirms all of its sites will remain closed through Wednesday.
Thousands of people remain in shelters across southern Louisiana as of this afternoon, forced out of their homes by intense flooding that took many people by surprise, The Associated Press reports.
The weather has improved from the torrential downpours, but rivers and creeks in many areas are still way above flood stage, and people downstream are eying the deluge with concern.
Rescuers have evacuated more than 20,000 people since the flooding started Friday and more than 10,000 people were in shelters as of late Sunday, according to Louisiana Gov. John Bel Edwards. At least six people were killed.
Some areas such as Zachary received more than 2 feet of rain in a 48-hour period that ended Saturday morning. Another hard hit area—Livingston Parish—received nearly 22 inches of rain over the same stretch.
Rivers in the Baton Rouge area have started to fall, but they still remain above flood stage after setting record levels over the weekend, the National Weather Service says.
“The rivers and streams north of Interstate 12 have crested and have started to drop, while those south of the interstate continue to rise,” meteorologist Mike Efferson says.
Adding insult to injury, it started raining in Baton Rouge again this afternoon and the city could see up to a half-inch of precipitation by this evening.
