Gulf hurricanes drive the majority of outage events, with recovery timelines measured in days rather than hours.
Gulf Storm and Flood Exposure
Louisiana's outage risk is shaped by a single utility's dominance across the most hurricane-exposed corridors in the state. Entergy Louisiana and Entergy New Orleans together serve roughly 1.3 million of the state's 2.5 million electricity customers. When Hurricane Ida struck in August 2021, all eight high-voltage transmission lines feeding the greater New Orleans area went out of service simultaneously. That total transmission failure disconnected the city from the bulk electric grid for days.
Across Entergy's Louisiana territory, customer outages peaked at roughly 902,000. Damage assessments eventually tallied more than 30,000 destroyed or damaged utility poles, more than hurricanes Katrina, Ike, Delta, and Zeta combined. Hardest-hit coastal parishes like Lafourche and Terrebonne did not reach full restoration until September 29, a full 31 days after landfall.
For backup sizing, the transmission-level failure pattern matters most. When the entire feed into a metro area goes dark, restoration timelines are measured in weeks, not days. Portable stations in southeast Louisiana should be sized for sustained multi-week runtime with solar recharge factored in from day one.
Federal disaster declaration for Category 4 hurricane causing catastrophic wind and flood damage across southeastern Louisiana.
Source: FEMA DR-4611Federal disaster declaration for Category 4 hurricane causing major wind damage in southwestern Louisiana.
Source: FEMA DR-4559NRI hurricane score of 92.3 reflects high modeled exposure, consistent with the FEMA declaration pattern.
Bias your plan toward hurricane-season runtime and recharge resilience.
Critical loads to sustain a household through a multi-day hurricane outage: refrigeration, medical, communications, and air circulation.
Load
421W
Target
72h
Minimum
49,900 Wh
Solar recharge is essential at this duration. Use the solar charge time tool to match panel output to your station.
Size this scenario in calculatorExtended coverage for the restoration phase after the storm passes, adding work-from-home capability.
Load
725W
Target
120h
Minimum
143,000 Wh
Requires expandable battery system or aggressive load rotation with solar top-up.
Size this scenario in calculatorCritical Note: No single portable power station in our database covers the full 72-hour baseline at this load (6,144 Wh max). Use solar recharge, load rotation, or expandable systems for longer events.
Planning backup around average usage instead of storm-season critical loads.
Not separating critical circuits from high-draw comfort devices during long outages.
Running without a documented recharge strategy when grid restoration can be delayed.
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Composite score: 86.2 / 100
Rating: Relatively High
Top modeled hazards: Hurricane, Heat Wave, Lightning
Hurricane score: 92.3
Winter Weather score: 53.5
Wildfire score: 47.9
Total (2014-2023): 35
Most recent: 2023-09-27 Other
| Type | Count |
|---|---|
| Hurricane | 13 |
| Flood | 7 |
| Fire | 4 |
| Biological | 3 |
| Coastal Storm | 3 |
| Severe Ice Storm | 2 |
| Other | 1 |
| Severe Storm | 1 |
| Tornado | 1 |
Required Wh = (Total Load W × Target Hours / Inverter Derate) × Safety Factor
Inverter derate: 0.70 (30% real-world loss)
Safety factor: 1.15
Rounding: Up to nearest 100 Wh
Louisiana has an NRI composite risk score of 86.2 (Relatively High), with 35 federal declarations from 2014 to 2023. NRI hurricane score of 92.3 reflects high modeled exposure, consistent with the FEMA declaration pattern.
For the primary scenario on this page (72-hour storm shelter), the estimated minimum is 49,900 Wh for a 72-hour target. Refine this in the calculator with your actual devices.
NRI is a modeled risk index based on hazard exposure, vulnerability, and expected loss. FEMA declarations reflect federally declared incidents. They answer different questions — use both signals together for planning.
Overloading a single station with non-essential appliances during the first 24 hours of an outage. See the common mistakes section above for more state-specific pitfalls.
