ABC reported on 4 September that at least 11 people have died in Louisiana owing to the Category 4 storm, and other reports talk of scores of casualties across the east of the country as the hurricane made its way northwards towards the New England coast.
Louisiana is still struggling to recover from devastation caused by the hurricane, which is reckoned the fifth-strongest hurricane to strike the U.S. mainland in history, dumping more than 13 inches of rain in some southern regions and leaving whole neighbourhoods under water.
Over 721 000 customers in the state are reported still to be without power, a situation made sores as the state swelters under a heat advisory.
However, power has been restored to nearly 327 700 people, as of 4 September, about 35% of the 948 000 customers who lost power because of Ida, according to energy supplier Entergy. Power is expected to be restored in the New Orleans area by 8 September, but in some districts power will not return before 29 September.
Entergy reports that 22 567 electricity poles, 26 729 spans of wire and 5 261 transformers were damaged or destroyed in Louisiana and Mississippi – that is more poles damaged or destroyed than in Hurricanes Katrina, Zeta and Delta combined. Six of the eight major transmission lines that deliver power into the New Orleans area have been restored.
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