Thousands of West Bank residents found themselves in the dark on Tuesday afternoon, as an unexpected power outage swept through the area. Entergy Louisiana is currently working to bring light and modern convenience back to nearly 6,500 customers who were left without power. The outage has particularly affected neighborhoods in Woodmere and Estelle, per the Entergy outage map.
Initial reports of the outage came in at noon for Marrero with approximately 4,000 customers affected, then spreading to Harvey and Gretna, impacting an additional 2,500 users around 2:30 p.m. Entergy has indicated that the interruption in service appears to have originated at a nearby substation, though no specific cause has been disclosed at this time. In a statement obtained by Fox 8, an Entergy spokesperson assured the public that "crews are on the scene now working to make repairs as quickly and safely as possible."
Despite initial estimates predicting the restoration of power by 4 p.m., hundreds still remained powerless into the evening. By 4:43 p.m., Entergy reported that about 3,200 customers were still without power, but by 7:30 p.m., that number dwindled down to just 14 in Jefferson Parish. Customers have been directed to use Entergy's view outage map or mobile app for the latest on restoration work.
Brandon Scardigli, Entergy Louisiana spokesperson, has promised to provide more details as they become available. "We are aware of the outage on the Westbank impacting approximately 6,500 customers," Scardigli said in a statement to Nola.com. The commitment to swift and safe repairs remains firm despite the lack of clarity on what precisely transpired at the substation. In the meantime, patience wanes thin as residents and businesses alike await the return of their electric lifeline, a service often taken for granted—until it flickers away.
The outage has reignited conversations about the infrastructure's resilience and the utility's preparedness to respond to such sudden losses of service. Entergy has yet to comment on the state of the substation or the infrastructure at large, but with each passing hour without power, the urgency for answers, and more importantly, for power restoration, mounts for the thousands affected on the West Bank. For updates and the latest outage status, customers can refer to the Entergy website and app, as noted in the coverage by WDSU.
