Some people in northeast Louisiana have been waiting a long time to get their power restored. Now, Entergy says they may have to wait a little longer. It says it may be as late as Saturday before it can restore power to everyone. Nyka Scott, the vice president of customer service for Entergy, says that’s because the task was a lot more daunting than originally anticipated.
“As we got into the field we are just seeing significantly more damage and the road conditions were incredibly bad, much worse than we thought,” Scott said.
Scott says restoring power in winter conditions is very challenging; for example, yesterday, workers found live powerlines underneath banks of ice. She says they don’t have those types of challenges following summer storms.
“As hard it is to suffer through brutal heat during a hurricane, it’s much easier to get a pole replaced and line strung when it is warm weather,” Scott said.
Scott says while crews have made progress, there is a ways to go, and they’re working overtime to get everyone’s lights back on.
Entergy has opened information centers to help customers who are dealing with a prolonged outage. These are places where customers can charge devices and access assistance.
“We’ve got one opened in West Monroe, one in Bastrop and in Lake Providence,” Scott said. “Customers can come and get hot food, they can charge their phones, they can get information on restoration times for their areas.”
The Customer Information Centers are located at:
- West Monroe Community Center – 400 S. 5th St, W. Monroe, LA 71292 (open 8 a.m. – 5 p.m.)
- Bastrop City Hall – 202 E. Jefferson Ave Bastrop, LA 71220 (open 8 a.m. – 5 p.m.)
- General Trass High School – 700 Martin Luther King Jr Dr, Lake Providence, LA 71254 (open Thursday 10 a.m. – 5 p.m.; Friday and Saturday 8 a.m. – 5 p.m.).
Estimated restoration times by parish*
| Parish | Estimated Restoration |
| Bienville Parish, western | January 29 |
| Lincoln Parish | January 29 |
| Natchitoches Parish | January 29 |
| Red River Parish | January 29 |
| Concordia Parish | January 30 |
| Franklin Parish | January 30 |
| Grant Parish | January 30 |
| LaSalle Parish | January 30 |
| Richland Parish, southern | January 30 |
| Tensas Parish | January 30 |
| Caldwell Parish | January 30 |
| Union Parish | January 31 |
| Jackson Parish | January 31 |
| Ouachita Parish | January 31 |
| Bienville Parish, eastern | January 31 |
| East Carroll Parish | January 31 |
| Madison Parish | January 31 |
| Morehouse Parish | January 31 |
| Richland Parish, northern | January 31 |
| West Carroll Parish | January 31 |
| Winn Parish | January 31 |
*Please note, estimated restoration times reflect when 90% of customers in a given parish are expected to be restored.