Power outages remain in Louisiana

NEW ORLEANS, Sept. 5 (UPI) -- Utility officials say power has been restored to 41 percent of those in the hurricane-affected New Orleans area but add reaching everyone will take time.

The utility company Entergy has restored electricity to 342,000 customers who lost power during Hurricane Gustav, but other areas, such as lower Jefferson Parish may have to wait until mid-September to see the lights come back on, The Times-Picayune, a New Oreleans newspaper, reported Friday.

Many officials and residents, including Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal, question how a hurricane that was milder than predicted could cause such widespread outages at Louisiana's largest utility.

Entergy officials defended their company's response, saying Gustav was the second-worst storm in the company's history after Hurricane Katrina.

Randy Helmick, an Entergy vice president, told The Times-Picayune the problem lies with the geography of New Orleans. Because New Orleans is bounded by water, Entergy can bring in transmission lines only from the north and west, so it has fewer options to reconnect communities in a disaster, Helmick said.