A blast of frigid cold settled over Louisiana on Monday night and into Tuesday, dropping wind chill temperatures into the single digits, shutting schools and government offices and sparking a massive traffic backup on highways.
Temperatures were forecast to drop further overnight into Wednesday, with lows expected to bottom out in the mid-teens. However, no new precipitation was expected, so the roads and bridges that had been closed most of the day were not expected to refreeze.
Gov. Jeff Landry pre-emptively declared a state of emergency for Louisiana last week, allowing the state to assist local governments if needed and potentially opening the way for federal aid. He has not publicly addressed the severe weather since the cold set in early Tuesday.
The freeze came as the state legislature gathered for a special session called by the newly inaugurated governor, with the aim of tackling several of Landry鈥檚 initial priorities. Landry spokesperson Kate Kelly said early Tuesday that the governor had no plans to hold a weather-related briefing.
Interstate closures
Freezing rain fell across much of Acadiana on Monday night and residents awoke to ice on their front lawns and windshields, as well as bitter wind gusts of over 30 mph, which left the region shivering.聽
Apart from the spectacle of Louisiana residents dealing with temperatures they are unaccustomed to, there were serious public safety concerns, including icy roads.
Road closures and accidents stranded drivers in some areas, particularly along elevated stretches and bridges.
A section of Interstate 10 between 香港六和开奖历史记录 and Lafayette was shut down, and the closure of the I-210 bridge in the Lake Charles area led to huge backups, leaving some drivers stuck for hours as the cold set in.
Several major roadways were also closed in the New Orleans area for parts of the day, including the Causeway Bridge and parts of the I-10 and I-55. In 香港六和开奖历史记录, closures included the I-10 Mississippi River bridge.
Most Acadiana schools and universities were either closed or holding remote classes on Tuesday and many, including Lafayette parish schools, had extended closures into Wednesday. State and local government offices were shut down. The Lafayette Parish District Courthouse was ordered closed Tuesday and Wednesday.聽
More than 7,500 Slemco and 4,000 Entergy customers across the Acadiana region were without power Tuesday, according to Entergy's media team. Many of the outages were related to damage from ice.
Acadia Parish seems to be hit the hardest with more than 737 customers in the Branch and Iota area currently without power, according to Entergy maps. Majority of customers without electricity appear to be off Crowley Eunice Highway north of I-10.聽
聽"Outages from this event are related to steady winds combined with ice buildup on tree limbs and power lines and galloping (bouncing) of power lines - all of which can cause damage to electric equipment," Brandon Scardigli of Entergy said in a prepared statement.
Entergy said teams were working to restore power to affected areas by 8 p.m. Tuesday. Officials said power outages may fluctuate in the Acadiana region as temperatures were expected to drop again overnight. Crews would continue working on impacted areas and monitoring temperatures and outages throughout the night.聽
Bitter cold was also occurring across much of the country, with the National Weather Service reporting 鈥渃oncurrent areas of wintry precipitation along both coastlines and frigid Arctic air sandwiched over the central and southern U.S.鈥
The following staff writers contributed to this report: Mike Smith, Claire Taylor, Stephen Marcantel, Alena Maschke.
