It started out as a month, maybe more, before full electrical service would be restored to the hundreds of thousands of customers in the dark in Entergy’s service area knocked out by Hurricane Ike. Now the count is down to about a week, perhaps less in some places. This is good news that should be thankfully received by all residents of this area.

Entergy has a plan and is executing that plan to get power restored to the largest number of people in the fastest possible time. It is not something they have announced officially, but by observing how the truckloads of electricians are working it is apparent that they are seeking out the trouble spots, disconnecting them and moving on to find another trouble spot. This is not to say that other crews aren’t working to repair the problem areas, but it makes sense to get as many on as fast as possible then get those areas that were more severely damaged on after the bulk of the outages have been restored.

Entergy has promised an army of 14,000 working to bring back the light, and from the massive number of trucks crawling the area like ants at a Sunday picnic, they are delivering.

City employees in all area cities are also on the job. We have seen debris being picked up on the sides of the road, utility workers getting water and sewer systems back up and running and no telling the number of people working behind the scenes to make life as normal as possible. Police and fire crews who are working long hours to ensure the public’s safety should be credited for working above and beyond the call of duty.

Local business, also, is returning to life. It is essential for residents to be able to purchase groceries, gasoline and other supplies needed to exist in an area that is living without most of what people usually consider essentials. We expect that in the days ahead more and more businesses will be opening their doors, even if on a limited basis because of restrictions caused by lack of utilities and curfews.

And after some days with little availability of ice, water and food, the American Red Cross and the Salvation Army are beginning distributions of the valuable commodities around the area. Some churches are also kicking in with helping their neighbors in need. These items all are a tremendous help to people who are running low or are out of gasoline and need something to eat and a way to keep their food cool.

It’s never easy living in a disaster zone, as most of us learned three years ago after Hurricane Rita. But with some improvisation and determination, Southeast Texans have learned that they can cope with most anything. The people who should be foremost in out thoughts and prayers are those in Sabine Pass, Bridge City, Orange, Taylor’s Landing, and in many other places who lost everything they own to flood waters. Many of them are facing a second round of losses after losing everything to wind just three years ago.

The coming days will continue to be difficult, but with each passing day most of the area will be coming closer to the time when life will resume in a way that, if not what we thought of as normal, at least in a way that is closer to the “new normal” we learned after Rita.