New Orleans City Council members on Tuesday expressed frustration with Entergy New Orleans equipment failures that caused power outages during frigid conditions and high winds on Jan. 31 and Feb. 1.
New Orleans was largely spared the most severe conditions of January’s winter blasts, which caused widespread damage and days-long power outages in northern Louisiana. But temperatures in the 20s and wind gusts above 40 miles per hour were crippling enough to cause 9,400 outages in Gentilly, the Lower Garden District and along the lakefront, including at least a few that went on for hours.
The storm forced local closures of schools and government offices, but conditions weren’t exactly unheard of in New Orleans: The city has now seen temperatures in the 20s in five of the last six years, and a minor tropical storm has sustained winds – not gusts – above 39 miles per hour…