correction
A previous version of this article incorrectly stated that a transmission tower fell into the Mississippi River. In fact, the tower fell near the river. The earlier version also incorrectly spelled the name of Jerry Nappi, the Entergy spokesman. The article has been corrected.
Louisiana’s largest utility company recently completed a $100 million upgrade to the region’s electrical grid, proclaiming in a news release that the new equipment was a model of “storm resiliency” throughout the region.
When Hurricane Ida hit, hundreds of power substations went down and a 400-foot transmission tower collapsed on the bank of the Mississippi River — a symbol to some Louisianans of the futility of an energy monopoly that has not moved quickly enough to guard against the extreme weather that pummels this region with growing frequency.
