New Orleans Power Outages: Live Updates, Restoration Timeline, and Safety Tips

Residents across Southeast Louisiana felt the heat in more ways than one Sunday afternoon as a sudden wave of New Orleans power outages plunged more than 100,000 homes and businesses into darkness. According to Entergy, the region’s electric utility, the interruption was the result of an emergency “load-shed” order from grid operator MISO after a generating unit already down for scheduled maintenance was followed by an unexpected generator trip, leaving the grid short of supply just as demand soared during the Memorial Day weekend heat. Impact by the numbers • Orleans Parish: peak of 52,268 customers without power; fewer than 300 still offline by late evening • Jefferson Parish: peak of 36,204 customers affected; service largely restored by 10 p.m. • St. Bernard & Plaquemines parishes: combined high of 8,600 outages before crews re-energized lines Why a load-shed happened MISO issues load-shed directives when generation cannot meet real-time demand. In Sunday’s case, one large unit was pre-scheduled for maintenance while another unexpectedly tripped offline. With temperatures hovering in the upper 80s and air-conditioners running full tilt, the safety margin evaporated. Short, rotating blackouts were ordered to prevent a cascading statewide failure. Restoration timeline Entergy crews began re-energizing circuits about two hours after the first interruption at 4:30 p.m. Most customers saw lights return between 9:30 p.m. and 10 p.m. As the grid stabilized, MISO lifted its restriction, allowing full power flow to resume. The utility cautioned that scattered pockets may still experience brief service interruptions as engineers balance the system overnight. What customers should do now • Download or update the Entergy outage app to receive push alerts on future grid events. • Keep refrigerators closed for up to four hours during short outages to preserve food safety. • Prepare an emergency kit with flashlights, battery banks and bottled water ahead of hurricane season, which begins June 1. • Consider enrolling critical-care medical equipment in Entergy’s life-support registry for priority restoration. Looking ahead: grid stressors persist Sunday’s blackout underscores the tight operating conditions facing Louisiana’s electric grid as scorching summer temperatures arrive early. Energy analysts note that New Orleans—situated at the end of long transmission corridors and increasingly vulnerable to extreme weather—relies heavily on aging natural-gas plants. If multiple generators go offline during a heatwave or tropical storm, load-shed orders could become more frequent. City Councilmember JP Morrell, who oversees utility regulation, has called for a public hearing to examine whether Entergy’s forecasting methods accurately reflect modern demand spikes and to explore expedited investment in battery storage, local solar and transmission upgrades. How to track future New Orleans power outages 1. Visit Entergy’s real-time outage map (etrviewoutage.com) for neighborhood-level information. 2. Follow @EntergyNOLA and @EntergyLA on X (Twitter) for restoration estimates. 3. Enable severe-weather notifications from the National Weather Service; storms remain the leading cause of extended power loss in the metro area. 4. Bookmark local news sites such as WWL-TV and WDSU for live coverage during large-scale events. Bottom line While most lights are back on, Sunday’s rolling blackouts serve as a stark reminder that New Orleans’ electrical infrastructure is operating on a razor-thin margin at the start of peak-demand season. Proactive conservation, emergency preparedness and accelerated grid investment will be critical to keeping the Crescent City powered—and cool—in the months ahead.