A 74-year-old man died of heat during a power outage in the United States' New Orleans in September, bringing the death toll due to the Hurricane Ida up to 13 in the state of Louisiana.
Authorities in Louisiana found people living in buildings without working generators, which left residents trapped in wheelchairs on dark, sweltering upper floors in New Orleans.
A 74-year-old man died of heat during a power outage in the United States' New Orleans in September, bringing the death toll due to the Hurricane Ida up to 13 in the state of Louisiana.
Hurricane Ida, the Category 4 hurricane that made landfall in the US a week ago, left nearly five lakh houses and businesses without power in the southern state on Monday.
Even as reports of the senior death hit the news, officials in New Orleans said they will thoroughly inspect senior living apartments in the city in the aftermath of the hurricane after finding people living in buildings without working generators, which left residents trapped in wheelchairs on dark, sweltering upper floors, Mayor LaToya Cantrell said Monday.
Hundreds were evacuated Saturday and the city later said five people had died in the privately run buildings in the days after the storm. The coroner바카라s office is investigating whether the deaths will be attributed to the hurricane, which struck land nine days before.
The managers of some of the homes for seniors evacuated out of state without making sure the residents would be safe after the storm, New Orleans City Council member Kristin Palmer said at a news conference.
바카라They바카라re hiding under the loophole of 바카라independent living,바카라바카라 Palmer said. 바카라It바카라s not independent living if there바카라s no power and you바카라re in a wheelchair on the fourth floor.바카라
The city is creating teams of workers from the health, safety and permits, code enforcement and other departments. Their first focus is to make sure the senior homes are safe and evacuate people if necessary, Cantrell said.
But after that, management will be held accountable, and the city will likely add requirements that include facilities having emergency agreements in place with contractors who will make sure generator power is available at the sites, the mayor said.
Crews in Louisiana have restored power to nearly 70% of greater New Orleans and nearly all of Baton Rouge after Hurricane Ida, but outside those large cities, getting lights back on is a complex challenge that will last almost all of September, utility executives said Monday.
It바카라s going to involve air boats to get into the swamps and marshes to string lines and repair the most remote of about 22,000 power poles that Ida blew down when it came ashore on Aug. 29 as one of the most powerful hurricanes to hit the U.S. mainland, Entergy Louisiana President and CEO Phillip May said.
More than 530,000 customers still don바카라t have power in Louisiana, just under half of the peak when Ida struck eight days ago. In five parishes west and south of New Orleans, at least 98% of homes and businesses don바카라t have power, according to the state Public Service Commission.
바카라It바카라s going to be a rebuild, not a repair,바카라 May said.
The struggles in rural Louisiana shouldn바카라t keep people from forgetting the 바카라near miraculous바카라 speed of the repairs in New Orleans, Entergy New Orleans President and CEO Deanna Rodriguez said.
바카라I am so proud of the team and I think it바카라s a fabulous good news story,바카라 she said.
But things aren바카라t normal in New Orleans. An 8 p.m. curfew remains in effect and numerous roads are impassable. Pickup of large piles of debris residents and businesses have been leaving on curbs will begin Tuesday, officials said.
Louisiana Gov. John Bel Edwards said Monday that he바카라s taken steps to help make the people doing the hard work of recovery have places to stay. He signed a proclamation ordering hotels and other places of lodging to give priority to first responders, health care workers and those working on disaster-related infrastructure repairs. The proclamation also suspended various state court legal deadlines until Sept. 24.
바카라People all over the state of Louisiana are spending this week assessing the damages done to their homes and communities and are putting their lives back together after the ravages of Hurricane Ida. We need for them to be focused on recovery and not whether they will be held to a court deadline,바카라 Edwards said in a news release.
Ida killed at least 13 people in Louisiana, many of them in the storm바카라s aftermath. Its remnants also brought historic flooding, record rains and tornados from Virginia to Massachusetts, killing at least 50 more people.
In the Gulf of Mexico, divers have located the apparent source of a continuing oil spill that appeared after Ida moved through the area about 2 miles (3 kilometers) south of Port Fourchon, Louisiana.
The owner of the pipeline hasn바카라t been discovered. Talos Energy, the Houston-based company currently paying for the cleanup, said it does not belong to them. The company said it is working with the U.S. Coast Guard and other state and federal agencies to find the owner.
It remains the peak of hurricane season and forecasters are watching a cluster of storms near the Yucatán Peninsula.
It바카라s not an organized tropical storm at the moment and is expected to move slowly to the north or northeast over the Gulf of Mexico, the National Hurricane Center said in a Monday update.
Forecasts don바카라t show any significant strengthening over the next several days, but even heavy rain could cause more pain in Louisiana.
(With inputs from Associated Press)