Entergy and Hurricane Georges

In 1998, as New Orleans braced for the approaching Hurricane Georges, Entergy sent all of their repair crews to an assembly point on the other side of Baton Rouge to wait for the storm to pass. All of them.

Back in the city, there was beautiful weather that Sunday. Sparse clouds and a light breeze, if any, as the storm was expected the following day.

A significant portion of midcity lost power at about 7pm, long before the first drop of rain fell.

Entergy had also cut their budget for “Vegetation Management” in the year before Georges. Vegetation management is cutting back tree limbs hanging over power lines, so those limbs won’t sag or fall on the lines and cause power outages. Because Entergy had halted a lot of that practice, there were lines down everywhere when the wind arrived overnight and started pushing trees around.