New Orleans cleans up after Hurricane Francine
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The last of Francine moved out of New Orleans early Thursday, and the sun is forecast to return in the afternoon.
Why it matters: There's cleanup to do after widespread street flooding and wind damage overnight.
The big picture: Morgan City, Houma and coastal areas got walloped by Francine, which made landfall around 5pm Wednesday as a Cat 2 storm.
- The eye passed near New Orleans on its way north, dumping 9 inches of rain in the area. The pumps couldn't keep up with the deluge.
- People were rescued from flooded underpasses (video), canals were overtopped and water went into some homes.
- More than 100,000 people in metro New Orleans were without power as of 6am, Entergy says.
The latest: Francine is rapidly weakening. It's a tropical storm as it heads into Mississippi and is expected to be a tropical depression in Memphis.
Threat level: City and state officials, utility workers and public works staff will be assessing storm damage Thursday morning, clearing streets and starting repairs.
- Gov. Jeff Landry asked residents to stay off the streets early Thursday as that work gets underway.
- "We are going to have a lot of people on the roadway, and that is necessary to put the vital infrastructure back in place so that you can go about your daily lives," Landry said in a press conference Wednesday.
- The governor is expected to provide another public update at 11:30am and again Thursday afternoon after viewing storm damage.
Zoom in: Nearly 400,000 Louisiana customers were without power as of 6am Thursday, according to according to utility tracker poweroutage.us. Most are Entergy customers. See outage map.
- Hundreds of extra line workers are in Louisiana to help with repairs, Entergy New Orleans president Deanna Rodriguez said.
- The utility has bucket trucks positioned around Southeast Louisiana, she said, but they have to wait for the winds to be below 30mph before they can work on the lines.
- Entergy has a 9am briefing scheduled to update media about the damage and recovery efforts.
What we're watching: The city will evaluate outages Thursday to see if there's a need to open emergency resource centers Friday, said Collin Arnold with NOLA Ready.
- The centers would be available for charging phones, getting water and cooling down.
- Together New Orleans will open 10 of its solar-powered "Lighthouses" at 9am Thursday as community charging stations. See map.
- Schools also will be inspecting their buildings Thursday. Many remain closed. See the list from WWL.
What to do: Residents in Orleans, Jefferson and Plaquemines parishes are being asked to conserve water so the sewer system won't get overloaded. That means don't run your dishwasher and washing machine until officials give the all clear.
- In New Orleans, drivers should move vehicles off the neutral ground Thursday.
- And if you are cleaning up debris, don't put it on the neutral ground and block streetcar tracks, RTA requests.
What's next: About 25,000 visitors are expected this weekend, Walt Leger, the president and CEO of New Orleans & Co., said Wednesday.
- And the sun is forecast to be out all weekend. Yay!
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