Entergy New Orleans Gas Operations, which serves 147,000 customers in New Orleans, said it stopped 17 gas leaks over the weekend and is continuing a comprehensive effort to locate, control and repair leaks throughout in the city in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. Meanwhile, its sister power utility has restored electricity service to nearly 749,000 customers, or more than two-thirds of its 1.1 million Louisiana and Mississippi customers.

The gas utility said it has preserved gas flows to the New Orleans Sewerage and Water Board (SWB) to support power generation for drainage pumps critical to removing water from the city.

“This week we have literally launched an ‘attack’ on New Orleans to rapidly identify and secure gas leaks wherever possible,” said Ed Melendreras, vice president of gas distribution. However, he said none of the fires that have broken out since the flooding are believed to be related to gas leaks.

“We’re using highly trained experts, the most advanced technology, and skilled crew members to implement this attack plan. Although the leaks we’ve found are generally in flooded areas and pose no immediate safety threat, we’re focused on controlling them,” he said.

Entergy is using helicopters, amphibious vehicles and specialized divers to locate and control gas leaks.

The company completed its assessment and secured the gas system in Algiers, Uptown, the Central Business District and the French Quarter. Gas may have to be shut off in some areas before repairs can be made. Service has been shut off gas to New Orleans East and the Ninth Ward to help with public safety and aid in restoration. The utility company is asking military personnel, police, and all emergency workers to call 1 800-ENTERGY, (800) 368-3749), if leaks are found.

In order to complete power restoration Entergy is continuing the practice of moving from outlying, minimally affected areas into more heavily damaged areas, which would be followed by locations that have been evacuated. A significant portion of the New Orleans area is flooded, and will take extended time, possibly months to restore. Six substations within the city have been reenergized, and distribution has been restored on a very limited basis, but there is a lot of work remaining outside the city to be completed first. Those areas in New Orleans that are not flooded had widespread damage.

All customers in Mississippi were expected to have service restored over the weekend.

The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission authorized the restart of Entergy’s 1,089 MW Waterford nuclear power station in Louisiana on Friday. Workers, however, were still performing maintenance unrelated to the hurricane prior to restarting the plant. The reactor shut as a precautionary measure on Aug. 28 due to a hurricane warning for St. Charles Parish about 30 miles west of New Orleans where the plant is located.

Entergy has 17 generating units in the New Orleans area fueled by natural gas and/or oil. The company said it has returned 10 of those units to service. Despite the outages, the utility said generating capacity is sufficient to meet demand. Entergy’s 959 MW Michoud station in Orleans Parish and Southern’s 1,047 MW Jack Watson coal-, gas- and oil-fired station in Harrison County, MS, are among the power plants remaining out of service.

The Department of Energy reported on Sunday that fewer than 471,000 electricity customers still lacked power 14 days after Hurricane Katrina pummeled the Gulf Coast. About 384,000, or 35%, of the homes and businesses in Louisiana remain without power, while Mississippi still has about 86,000 customers with no service. Katrina initially left more than 4.5 million homes and businesses without power when it struck.

Southern Co.’s Mississippi Power subsidiary restored power to all customers able to receive power by the end of Sept. 10, one day ahead of its projection. The company has about 27,000 customers who are unable to receive power.

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