Entergy New Orleans, SWBNO address communication missteps during Hurricane Francine
NEW ORLEANS (WGNO) — Five days after Hurricane Francine made landfall, the New Orleans City Council is hearing from the departments that lead the city’s storm response on how communication can be improved.
The hurricane caused more than 50,000 power outages across the City of New Orleans, as well as street flooding, but a lack of communication appeared to be the biggest problem.
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During a four-hour meeting, business owners shared their frustrations over how Entergy New Orleans responded to the power outages caused by Francine.
“The most disturbing factor, we were spared on Wednesday. We all opened on Thursday with a sigh of relief, and by noon, we lost power,” explained Ms. Mogilles on behalf of McHardy’s Chicken & Fixin. “We were all in darkness without an alert or any other form of notification.”
Entergy New Orleans leaders admitted there was a lag in their power outage map, a tool they urge customers to use.
“I do think that there are some improvements we can make on that because you see one thing on the outage map, you see one thing in a text and robocall, which is more specific,” said Nyka Scott, Entergy’s customer service vice president. “So, I think that is certainly a lesson learned here, where we need to make sure that when a customer gets those texts and robocalls, the first thing they see is, ‘This is the most accurate information about when your power is going to be restored.’”
Council members also questioned the New Orleans’ Office of Homeland Security and Emergency Preparedness and the Sewerage and Water Board of New Orleans over failing to notify the public when an issue caused by the hurricane occurred, like the failure of pumps.
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“I get you’re trying not to stress people out. They’re already stressed out,” said City Council Vice President JP Morrell. “I think at this point, if the memo has not been received that withholding information to lower our stress levels somehow will make us less stressed, I can say, from this council and for the public, that has failed both times.”
Council President Helena Moreno suggested that the Sewerage and Water Board designate someone to prioritize media requests for the next storm.
“As you may know, we’re going through some changes in our communications unit. So, that didn’t help at all,” said SWBNO Executive Director Ghassan Korban. “I mean, kudos to everybody in that unit, they were working around the clock, but certainly we missed some opportunities here and there. So, room for improvement for certain.”
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