• Over half of the gas stations in New Orleans don't have fuel on Wednesday, according to GasBuddy.
• The outages were caused by Hurricane Ida, which swept through the state on Sunday.
• The region is experiencing a sweltering heatwave with an expected heat index of up to 108 degrees.
• See more stories on Insider's business page.

More than half of the gas stations in New Orleans and Baton Rouge are out of gasoline, according to GasBuddy's fuel outage tracker.

The outages come as the city of New Orleans and its population of over 390,000 are without electricity after all eight of its transmission towers failed simultaneously from Hurricane Ida.

Officials said that it could be weeks before power is restored in the city even with more than 25,000 utility workers on the scene. More than 240,000 homes were also without power on Tuesday in Baton Rouge, the state's second-largest city.

Members of the National Guard and law enforcement were at gas stations in New Orleans to keep the peace as long lines of cars waited for a chance to restock on the precious commodity, the Associated Press reported on Wednesday.

Aside from powering cars, gasoline can be crucial post-hurricanes for powering generators for homes, chainsaws to clear roads and debris, and even lifeboats. Ochsner Health's president said in a press briefing on Monday that the health system's 40 hospitals were well stocked with gasoline to power its generators.

Adding insult to injury, a sweltering heatwave is sweeping over the region. A heat advisory is under effect on Wednesday and Thursday in the New Orleans area with a possible heat index of up to 108 degrees Fahrenheit.

New Orleans Mayor LaToya Cantrell said in a conference Tuesday that she couldn't provide a timeline as to when the city's power would return and addressed the problems that many New Orleanians are having post-Ida.

"We know it's hot. We know we do not have any power, and that continues to be a priority," Cantrell said.

Cantrell said on Twitter that cooling centers have been opened up throughout the city through Friday to allow people to escape the heat, rehydrate, and charge their devices.

Gov. John Bel Edwards cautioned Louisianans who evacuated the state not to return to their communities until utilities and other essential infrastructure are restored.

"Many of the life-supporting infrastructure elements are not present, they're not operating right now," Edwards said on Tuesday. "So if you have already evacuated, do not return."

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By: [email protected] (Madison Hall)
Title: Over half of the gas stations in New Orleans and Baton Rouge are out of fuel as the cities remain without power because of Ida, and now a heatwave has arrived
Sourced From: feedproxy.google.com/~r/clusterstock/~3/mD4iTkJawPY/new-orleans-baton-rouge-gas-stations-no-fuel-ida-heatwave-2021-9
Published Date: Wed, 01 Sep 2021 17:26:23 +0000

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