A widespread power outage affected nearly 100,000 Entergy customers across the New Orleans metro area on Sunday afternoon. The outage struck during one of the hottest days of the season, raising concerns about the region’s power grid as summer and hurricane season approach.
Unlike recent outages caused by mechanical problems, Mylar balloons, or even rodents, Sunday’s blackout was a deliberate “load shed.” This means the regional transmission organization, MISO, ordered a temporary reduction in power supply. The goal was to lower electricity use and avoid a larger, more damaging blackout.
At the peak of the outage, Entergy reported that over 52,000 customers in Orleans Parish lost power. Entire neighborhoods, including Lakeview, the Lake Area up to the Industrial Canal, Gentilly, and parts of Mid-City, were affected.
Other areas, such as parts of Treme, the Marigny, Uptown, and the Garden District, also experienced outages lasting more than two hours.
According to PowerOutage.us, the outage impacted over half of Entergy’s total customers.
In Jefferson Parish, about 35,800 customers were without power on both the east and west banks.
Additionally, more than 6,000 customers in St. Bernard Parish and about 6,500 in Plaquemines Parish lost electricity at the height of the outage.
Customers of Cleco, the utility serving the northshore, also faced outages. Some residents in Mandeville reported power loss and difficulties reporting the issue on Cleco’s website or using the utility’s outage map.
Entergy explained the outage on its website, stating it was acting on a directive from MISO. The company said it had to start “periodic power outages” to prevent a larger, more prolonged blackout that could threaten the power grid’s stability.
The statement added that some customers might face multiple outages as MISO works to restore the system. MISO is actively directing efforts to return the power grid to normal as soon as possible.
By 7 p.m., power was restored to Uptown, the Garden District, and northshore Cleco customers. Full restoration of power was completed by 8 p.m.
