The state health department has announced five additional deaths because of the winter storm, bringing the total number to eight. The cause of death for five of the victims is hypothermia. LDH also says an elderly person in DeSoto Parish died from carbon monoxide poisoning. Also, in DeSoto Parish, a 79-year-old woman died after her oxygen concentrator failed as a result of no power. And a Texas man also died while traveling on icy roads in Mansfield. Governor Jeff Landry wants residents in north Louisiana to do these two things:
“Stay off the roadway, you can’t get in an accident, you don’t become a statistic. Number two, you’ve got to get to a warming shelter if you do not have electricity or supplemental heat,” Landry urged.
Landry spoke in Monroe today after taking a tour of some of the destruction the ice storm has caused in Ouachita Parish. Monroe Mayor Friday Ellis says once the ice melts away, the clean-up will be extensive.
“There’s not a place in Booker T, or there’s not a place in AQ or in South Monroe, that there’s not a tree or a multiple snapped power lines. It’s going to be a huge cleanup. Same way with North Monroe; you go through the Garden District, and its devastation,” Ellis said.
Getting the power back on is a major priority. Landry says the number of linemen and crews have doubled as they’ve been able to shift personnel from south to north Louisiana. Landry says he’s hopeful 90% of customers will have power restored by Thursday
“Literally, in 12 hours, 20,000, somewhat-odd customers are back on, right? So we’re right under 100,000. If we can keep that rate going, everybody will have the heat on before the next round of cold air,” Landry said.
There are still more than 90,000 utility customers without power. Nearly half of the outages are in Ouachita Parish. Another round of extremely cold air will arrive this weekend.
If you live in an area without power, State Police Superintendent, Colonel Robert Hodges, says check on your neighbors, especially if they are elderly.
“Please check on them, make sure that they have the things they need. Even if you heard from them yesterday, if you all could check on them and they need fire or EMS or police services, then we can possibly navigate a way to get up and provide that assistance,” Hodges said.