2-16-21
Unusually cold temperatures and slippery road conditions prompted officials in the Deep South to urge people to stay home yesterday and at least one weather-related death was reported in Louisiana. Winter storm warnings blanketed most of Louisiana and Mississippi and extended into parts of Alabama. The Louisiana Department of Health announced the state’s first storm-related death on Monday evening after a 50-year-old Carencro resident slipped on ice and fatally hit his head on the ground.
CLECO HAD TO DEAL WITH A NUMBER OF ELECTRICAL OUTAGES DUE TO THE ICY WEATHER YESTERDAY. AT ITS HEIGHT, THEY HAD MORE THAN ELEVEN THOUSAND CUSTOMERS WITHOUT POWER. THE MAJORITY OF THAT WAS IN IBERIA PARISH. AS OF LAST NIGHT, THEY HAD RESTORED ELECTRICTIY TO MORE THAN NINETY PERCENT OF THEIR CUSTOMERS.
LAFAYETTE UTILITY SYSTEM, SLEMCO AND CLECO ARE ASKING THEIR CUSTOMERS TO VOLUNTARILY REDUCE THEIR POWER OUTAGE. SYLVIA MASTERS HAS MORE.
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JEFF DAVIS ELECTRIC COOPERATIVE CUSTOMERS WHO LIVE SOUTH OF THE INTRACOASTAL CANAL SHOULD EXPECT TO HAVE AN EXTENDED POWER OUTAGE THIS MORNING. THOSE CUSTOMERS HAVE BEEN RECEIVING POWER FROM MOBILE GENERATION ASSETS SINCE THE HURRICANES. DUE TO ICY CONDITIONS, TANKER TRUCKS HAVE NOT BEEN ON THE ROADWAYS TO BE ABLE TO SUPPLY LIQUID PROPANE GAS. GENERAL MANAGER MIKE HEINEN SAYS THE UNITS ARE EXPECTED TO RUN OUT OF GAS BY NINE A-M THIS MORNING.
NORMAL TRASH PICKUP IS SUSPENDED FOR TODAY. THE ACADIA PARISH POLICE JURY SAYS TRASH PICKUP WILL RESUME AS NORMAL FOR WEDNESDAY THROUGH FRIDAY, BUT THOSE WHOSE TRASH IS NORMALLY PICKED UP ON MONDAYS AND TUESDAYS WILL NOT HAVE THEIR TRASH PICKED UP UNTIL NEXT WEEK. A SPOKESPERSON FOR LAFAYETTE CONSOLIDATED GOVERNMENT SAYS TUESDAY THROUGH FRIDAY PICKUP THIS WEEK WILL BE DELAYED BY ONE DAY. IN NEW IBERIA, ST. MARTIN PARISH, AND JEFF DAVIS PARISH, TRASH PICKUP WILL BE DELAYED BY TWO DAYS FROM THE NORMAL ROUTE.
TRAFFIC ON HIGHWAY ONE NINETY IN ST. LANDRY PARISH WAS BACKED UP OVER FIVE MILES YESTERDAY BETWEEN OPELOUSAS AND PORT BARRE. IT WAS DUE TO THE ICY CONDITIONS ON BRIDGES AND OVERPASSES. ST. LANDRY PARISH PRESIDENT JESSIE BELLARD TELLS KLFY TV THAT WHENEVER THE TRUCKS HIT THEIR BRAKES, THEY WOULD SLIDE. HE SAYS THEY WERE WORKING TO PUT MATERIALS ON OVERPASSES AND DE-ICERS ON BRIDGES.
COVID-NINETEEN HOSPITALIZATIONS IN LOUISIANA CONTINUE TO DECREASE WITH TWENTY-SIX FEWER YESTERDAY, ACCORDING TO THE DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH. THE NUMBER OF PATIENTS ON VENTILATORS WENT DOWN BY FIVE. THE NUMBER OF NEW CASES ROSE BY FOUR HUNDRED EIGHTY-THREE, PUTTING THE TOTAL ABOVE THREE HUNDRED SIXTY-THREE THOUSAND. THERE WERE TWENTY-EIGHT MORE DEATHS STATEWIDE.
FIVE OF THE DEATHS WERE IN ACADIANA. LAFAYETTE AND ST. LANDRY PARISHES HAD TWO EACH WHILE EVANGELINE PARISH ADDED ONE. THERE WERE NO ADDITIONAL DEATHS REPORTED IN SOUTHWEST LOUISIANA. ACADIANA HAD ONE HUNDRED TWENTY-FOUR NEW CASES, WHICH PUTS THE REGION’S TOTAL ABOVE FIFTY-THREE THOUSAND. THERE WERE TWENTY-EIGHT NEW CASES IN SOUTHWEST LOUISIANA, SEVENTEEN OF WHICH WERE IN CALCASIEU PARISH.
