Hurricane Ida’s violent winds and storm surge have plunged New Orleans and surrounding areas into darkness, and officials say some residents may be without power for weeks to come. During a Wednesday afternoon update, Mayor Latoya Cantrell said some power had been restored in Eastern New Orleans and that citizens could expect more of the grid to be back online by Thursday. However, she did not provide specifics on when or where this might happen.

            Cantrell, who pleaded with people for patience and compassion, explained that the location of power substations will be the determining factor in bringing back the city’s electricity and power. “So it’s not picking a neighborhood. It’s where the resources are and we can reestablish power. The theme here is that progress is being made.”

            As of last Wednesday night, more than 175,000 homes and businesses in Orleans parish were still without power, according to PowerOutage.US. “At this time, we cannot predict when your power will be restored,” Entergy told customers on Twitter. “We will provide an estimate restoration time and other information about your outage as soon as it’s available. We apologize for this major inconvenience.” Citizens are waiting for the next announcement which is said to be sent out by the 23rd of September.