By GEORGE MAHL

LAPLACE – When Tropical Storm Isidore made landfall early Thursday morning, several River Parish residents were left with no electricity. Entergy Louisiana spokeswoman Tammy Frank said that 4,000 residents in St. James and St. John Parishes were without power early Thursday morning.

Including 193 on Blind River in St. James and a 143 in River Forest.

“It took them a little longer to get it on in Blind River because we had to bring in a helicopter,” said Frank.

She also said that River Forest was without electricity for the longest period.

“At about 7:30 a.m Thursday, a 60-foot tree fell on top of a power line causing difficulty for the workers to get to it. We managed to get power restored, however,” she said.

Frank said the company first draws crews from Louisiana, then, if needed, Arkansas, Mississippi, and Texas would be added. 6,300 extra workers were brought in to help with the cleanup and to restore power.

“We had 15 construction crews out here and 74 vegetation workers cleaning up,” said Frank.

Since most Entergy Louisiana employees are salaried and hourly, no overtime additions were involved.

“We also have a alternate vacation week schedule in which some may work one week, but not the next. However, all of that was canceled,” Frank said.

About 9,000 customers were without power in St. Charles Parish, according to Entergy spokesman Doug Rhodes. It appeared as if Ormond subdivision was hit the worst because of a fallen tree that fell outside the right-of-way.

“We really started long before the storm came. We were out early on trimming trees around power lines in case of something like this happening,” Rhodes said.

Rhodes estimates that about 150 tree trimmers were used throughout St. Charles Parish to help with the cleanup. “We also had about 200 lineman from out of state brought in to help out,” said Rhodes.