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'Basically left to die': Neighbors say woman died after spending more than a week without power

2 years 6 months 2 weeks ago Friday, September 10 2021 Sep 10, 2021 September 10, 2021 5:22 AM September 10, 2021 in News
Source: WBRZ

DENHAM SPRINGS - Some people are at their wits' end living through day 11 without electricity in the aftermath of Hurricane Ida.

Linemen continue to work to connect nearly 30,000 people in our area.

This week, 2 On Your Side has been getting emails from people about their power still being out. Some of them require electricity for medical reasons. One of them came from a woman on Tuesday asking for help. The email was forwarded to the power company, which acknowledged receipt and provided some state resources for help. But that help may have come a little too late.

Tina Barrington can't believe what's transpired in the last couple of days. Her friend and neighbor died Wednesday in the heat and the dark.

"They were basically left to die," she said.

Barrington says her neighbor, Gayle, recently had open heart surgery and was on dialysis.

"She just wasn't doing real well to begin with, having no power sort of made it harder," Barrington said.

The Oak Place Subdivision in Denham Springs went 11 days without power. While Barrington says she's blessed with a generator, others aren't so lucky.

"It's heartbreaking. They get power to half of the neighborhood and they just left. They just left, forgot half the neighborhood," she said.

Thursday was the first time in a week she's seen power crews in the area. A tree fell on some lines during the storm, but neighbors tell 2 On Your Side that tree was removed Tuesday.

Barrington says she's been calling DEMCO every day trying to get someone to come out to Oak Place.

"It had been reported numerous times, they kept telling us it had not been reported," she said. "Someone dropped the ball."

Restoration efforts in her neighborhood were too late for her friend. Barrington says her neighbor didn't want to leave the house because she was afraid of getting COVID-19. Barrington and other neighbors checked on her daily. They report that on Tuesday things started going downhill fast when Gayle repeatedly passed out.

"She was scared, she was upset, she said she was tired," Barrington said. "She didn't know how much longer she could do it."

Wednesday, her neighbor said goodbye.

Around 2:30 p.m. Thursday, power was restored to Oak Place Subdivision. Barrington says it was too little, too late.

DEMCO says the vast majority of members in Denham Springs will have power back on or before Saturday.

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