Louisiana residents warned they won't get power back for weeks, grid will have to rebuilt 'from the ground up' in some areas

Greg P. | 11:01 PM on August 30, 2020

President Trump toured Louisiana and Texas to survey the damage from Hurricane Laura on Saturday. . .

Just returned to Washington from Louisiana & Texas, after tours and discussions concerning Hurricane Laura. Thank you to @FEMA and ALL. God bless the families of those who perished!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) August 30, 2020

. . .and FEMA is already on the ground. . .

President @realDonaldTrump has approved a major disaster declaration to help individuals and business owners impacted by the storm.

And @fema is providing critical supplies to those in need—2.6 million liters of water and 1.4 million meals have been delivered thus far. pic.twitter.com/sCgdpO4Z1d

— The White House (@WhiteHouse) August 29, 2020

. . .but the conditions are “pretty bad,” to say the least:

FEMA Administrator Peter Gaynor says that five counties in Louisiana were hit “pretty bad” by Hurricane Laura and adds that getting power restored and getting water turned on are two prime things that are a priority so people can return home. https://t.co/TQ2nKbBIYP #CNNSOTU pic.twitter.com/xZAdiruV0a

— State of the Union (@CNNSotu) August 30, 2020

Estimates are that it’s going to take weeks to get the power back in some areas:

Devastating. Could take weeks to get power back.

"355,000 Louisiana homes and businesses remained without electricity on Sunday morning… Another 102,000 customers in Texas and Arkansas had no power."

– @rontimes @weatherchannel #HurricaneLaura https://t.co/iAmFcb3I91

— Wilkine Brutus (@wilkinebrutus) August 30, 2020

An official statement from Beauregard Electric states members could be without power a MINIMUM of 4 weeks. This estimate comes after helicopter surveillance for the damaged areas. So far, 330 workers have been brought in to assist with repairs, with another 120 to arrive today…

— Pamela Sleezer (@PamelaAmPress) August 30, 2020

“The more we learn about the damage to SW Louisiana’s infrastructure the worse it seems to get”:

The more we learn about the damage to SW Louisiana’s infrastructure the worse it seems to get. https://t.co/fRvJFLs0ly

— Sam Karlin (@samkarlin) August 30, 2020

Some areas will need to rebuild the power grid “from the ground up”:

The damage from Hurricane Laura is so extensive in some areas of Louisiana that the power grid will need to be rebuilt from the ground up. https://t.co/KNelGbtuNr

— CNN Weather Center (@CNNweather) August 30, 2020

Progress, however, is being made:

Oh, we're not waiting. Louisiana suffered a peak of 270,900 outages Thursday afternoon. By 7 p.m. Saturday, Aug. 29, that number had dropped to 189,571 as crews worked to restore customers. It's just a lot of damage. Latest update: https://t.co/OMn2mtNA7f

— Entergy Louisiana (@EntergyLA) August 30, 2020

Tragically, 16 people lost their lives related to the storm: