SOUTHWEST, LA - Nearly a week after Hurricane Laura destroyed the power system in Southwest Louisiana, 237,000 households and businesses are still in the dark.

That’s down quite a bit from the 615,000 that were without power immediately following the storm.

The main issue according to Entergy, besides a storm with 150 MPH winds ripping down thousands of power poles and lines, is the damage to several transmission systems.

Transmission systems are an important part of getting power to homes. All nine transmission lines that power the Lake Charles area are down. Entergy doesn’t expect any repairs to be completed for at least two weeks.

But there is progress. As of noon on Wednesday, Sept. 2, Cleco, which powers most of the area, reported that 74 percent of the 140,000 customers have their power back on.

Governor Edwards announced Wednesday that 22,000 people from 29 different states are working on restoring power to the region, including an 8,300 member team from Entergy.

Entergy estimates it will be two to three weeks before residents in the Lake Charles area get power, and even longer for the parts of Calcasieu and Cameron parishes that are currently inaccessible.