Hurricane Ida aftermath: No power, no flights, inadequate drinking water

Louisiana communities beginning the huge task of clearing debris and repairing the damage inflicted by Hurricane Ida are facing the dispiriting prospect of weeks without electricity in the oppressive, late-summer heat.

Ida ravaged the region's power grid, leaving all of New Orleans and hundreds of thousands of other Louisiana residents in the dark with no clear timeline on when the electricity would come back on. Some areas outside New Orleans also suffered major flooding and damage to homes and businesses.

"I can’t tell you when the power is going to be restored. I can’t tell you when all the debris is going to be cleaned up and repairs made," Gov. John Bel Edwards said Monday. "But what I can tell you is we are going to work hard every day to deliver as much assistance as we can."

The storm was blamed for at least four deaths in Louisiana and Mississippi, including two people killed Monday night when seven vehicles plunged into a 20-foot-deep (6-meter-deep) hole near Lucedale, Mississippi, where a highway had collapsed after torrential rains.