Sept. 5 Hurricane Ida updates for Ascension Parish: Hundreds served at distribution sites

The Donaldsonville Chief and Gonzales Weekly Citizen have been compiling daily updates for Ascension Parish citizens pertaining to Hurricane Ida recovery efforts. This article may be updated multiple times throughout the day.

Hurricane Ida recovery grinds on in Ascension Parish

Ascension Parish President Clint Cointment has been on hand to oversee the distribution of water, ice, MREs, and tarps.

In a Facebook post, the president stated hundreds of people were served at the Lamar-Dixon Expo Center in Gonzales and at the Lemann Memorial Center in Donaldsonville.

Cointment also visited the parish's animal shelter, CARA's House, and toured the parish to see recovery efforts in action.

Ascension Parish curfew extended

The Ascension Parish curfew will be from midnight to 6 a.m.

Travel to and from work is allowed.

Donaldsonville updates

Donaldsonville Mayor Leroy Sullivan put out his daily update for Sept. 5.

The distribution site at the Frank Sotile Jr. Pavilion is operational with supplies, which includes tarps, water, and ice.

Sullivan thanked the Louisiana National Guard, the Ascension Parish Sheriff’s Office, and the Ascension Parish office of Emergency Preparedness and Homeland Security staff for their tireless efforts throughout this process.

On Sept. 6, the Greater Baton Rouge Food Bank and Ascension Parish Government will be providing food in Donaldsonville by donating 1,500 cases of water and 1,500 boxes of non-perishable food at the Frank Sotile Jr. Pavilion.

Volunteers will begin distributing at 11 a.m. on a first come-first served basis, while supplies last. 

Entergy has been giving a daily briefing as well:

"During our daily briefing with Entergy, we continue to be given information on plans to restore power. Power should continue to be restored today. Again, you may see a home near you with power and you may not yet be on, so be aware that power is fed from different grids. We continue to meet with Entergy to get updates. As we get news, we can actually confirm, we will communicate it," the mayor stated.

"Please continue to be kind to these linemen. Again, this is no easy task and your prayers and patience is appreciated."

Ascension Parish Council Chair statement

Ascension Parish Council Chair Teri Casso posted the following statement via Facebook today:

"Just wanted to take a moment to thank our citizens for their patience, perseverance and kindness to each other and the thousands of displaced persons now our quest in Ascension. Much like after Katrina, our population has exploded. We are the first functioning parish in the disaster zone! Please continue to be patient and kind to those people who have lost so much. I hear everyday how hospitable we are to the linemen in our area. Please show the same hospitality to our neighbors from the southern parishes.

Thanks again for all you are doing to help our local families, friends and neighbors. Our resilience is proven ! 'Our hearts are once again broken, but our faith is strong'"

Town of Sorrento update

The American Red Cross will be at the Sorrento Community Center Sept. 5 and Sept. 6 handing out disaster cleaning kits. The addreis 7471 Main St. in Sorrento.

Damaged utility poles

Entergy shared on Twitter a graphic comparing the more than 30,000 damaged utility poles to past hurricanes.

“We’ve never seen anything this large. Even with Katrina, the damage was extended to multiple states. With Ida, nearly all of the damage is here in Louisiana,” stated Joe Book, senior manager of distribution engineering for Entergy in Louisiana.

According to Entergy, Hurricane Katrina in 2005 damaged more than 17,000 poles. Hurricane Laura, which hit last year, tallied more than 14,000. Hurricanes Rita (2005) and Gustav (2008) each had more than 11,000. Zeta, which was last year, had more than 2,000. 

Some 900,000 Entergy customers lost power across southeast Louisiana.

National Water Infrastructure update

The following statement was issued by National Water Infrastructure on the Ascension Sewer page:

"Due to the severity of Hurricane Ida, many of our wastewater treatment plants remain without power. If you are a National Water Infrastructure customer who currently does not have power, the treatment plant serving your neighborhood probably does not have power either. Due to the lack of power, our operations teams are working diligently across our service area to manually pump down the treatment plants to reduce the number of overflows.

Until power is restored, please limit your use of water for non-essential activities, such as limiting flushing toilets as necessary and reducing the use of water to what is necessary. This will help prevent and/or minimize overflow events until power is restored.

If you are a National Water Infrastructure customer and are experiencing overflow or flushing issues, please call 225-673-3156 to report the issue. All messages received through this 24/7 hotline are sent directly to our operations teams for dispatch. We are committed to serving you as quickly as possible."