NEW ORLEANS, Sept. 2 (UPI) -- Utility officials say Hurricane Gustav left more than a million people without power Tuesday on the U.S. Gulf Coast.
That number was expected to grow as evacuees returned home and reported outages, The Washington Post reported.
While the levees of New Orleans remained intact, property damage elsewhere in Louisiana and Mississippi would make power restoration as difficult as it was after Hurricane Katrina three years ago, The Times-Picayne in New Orleans reported.
Seven people were killed in storm-related traffic accidents Monday, four of them when a car hit a tree in Georgia, the Post reported.
Gustav dropped up to 20 inches of rain in some areas, hitting the heaviest at the heart of Louisiana's fishing and oil industries, but causing less damage than feared in more populated areas such as New Orleans.
Energy companies said they would know more about damage to refineries, undersea pipelines and oil platforms as they began restaffing facilities.
