Louisiana Governor John Bel Edwards said in a morning press conference that as was forecast, Hurricane Ida delivered catastrophic wind, surge and rain across the Southeast portion of Louisiana.
“Almost the entire Southeastern part of our state is without power presently,” said Edwards. “That’s well over one million people.”
“If there is a silver lining, and today it’s hard to see one, it’s that our levee systems performed really well,” said Edwards. “There were a few smaller levees that overtopped for some duration of time but they did not fail.”
However, Nola.com reported yesterday that the Phillips 66 Alliance Refinery near Belle Chasse partially flooded after surging water from the hurricane broke through a makeshift levee. “Plaquemines Parish officials said the levee failed near Highway 3, about a half mile from the refinery. Residents in the area between the refinery and Oakville Floodgate were urged to head to higher ground,” the report said.
Houston-based Phillips 66 confirmed in the report that it's not yet clear how much damage the flooding caused or whether it released any fuel or other chemicals into the environment.
Phillips 66 spokesperson Tristan Babin said the refinery remains shut down. "At this time, Phillips 66 can confirm that there is some water in the refinery," he said. "Our team will conduct a full, post-storm assessment of the refinery when it is deemed safe to do so. All employees have been accounted for."
Referring to the state’s own post-storm evaluation, Edwards said “There are an awful lot of unknowns right now. There are certainly more questions than answers. I can’t tell you when the power is going to be restored. What I can tell you is that we’re going to work hard every single day to deliver as much assistance as we possibly can."
"We’re going to push Entergy and all the other electric companies to restore power just as soon as they can, and they are busy doing that with more than 25,0000 lineman on the job as we speak, coming from 22 different states," he said.
Edwards closed his update by reminding the people of Louisiana to do what they do best and that is to be a good neighbor by helping out your family, friends and neighbors who need special assistance.
