New Orleans mayor to evacuated residents: ‘You can come home’

New Orleans Mayor LaToya Cantrell (D) told residents who were evacuated due to Hurricane Ida that they could return home.

In a news conference Friday, Cantrell struck an optimistic tone as power is being restored to the city, with nearly all electricity expected to be returned next week.

“What we have been saying and really saying more aggressively today to those residents who did evacuate and as they see power restored to their communities into their neighborhoods — we are saying you can come home,” Cantrell said.

Cantrell added that as residents come home, they could “free up the burdens that some of our residents have as they go without power.”

Cantrell made the comments as recovery efforts in the city entered the fifth day, after Hurricane Ida made landfall along the U.S. Gulf Coast on Sunday. The storm, which made landfall on the 16th anniversary of Hurricane Katrina, flooded parts of the state and left millions without power for days.

Some power has been restored to the city since the storm, and Entergy, the utility company that services New Orleans and southeastern portions of Louisiana, has said most of the city will have power by next Wednesday. However, this is subject to change.

Cantrell said she was “cautiously optimistic” that power would be restored by then.

President Biden visited Louisiana on Friday, touring some of the damage caused by the storm.

“My message today is … just simply about saving lives and getting people back up and running. And we’re in this together,” the president said. 

The storm is believed to be responsible for at least 14 deaths between Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama, The Associated Press noted. But at least 46 deaths have been reported across the Northeast as the remnants of Ida blew threw the region earlier this week.