U.S. Gulf Coast Power Outages Fall Below 1 Million After Ida

(Bloomberg) -- Power outages on the U.S. Gulf Coast have dipped below 1 million homes and businesses as utilities begin the challenging task of cobbling the grid back together after Hurricane Ida. 

About 927,000 homes and businesses in Louisiana and 35,000 in Mississippi were without electricity as of 9 a.m., including 87% of New Orleans, according to PowerOutage.US., which tracks utility outages. 

Full restoration will take time, with restoration crews needing to fix at least 5,800 downed poles and almost 1,400 damaged transformers, according to Entergy Corp., the utility serving  much of the region. The company has managed to get one power plant in New Orleans up and running and repair one of the eight key transmission lines that serve the city and were damaged in the storm. 

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