This story was originally published by Louisiana Illuminator
Extreme cold has led to the deaths of five more people in Louisiana, bringing the total number of fatalities state officials are attributing to this week’s winter weather to eight.
The Louisiana Department of Health reported two weather-related deaths each in DeSoto and Sabine parishes, and a single incident in Franklin Parish.
In DeSoto Parish, the coroner confirmed a 79-year-old woman died of hypoxia after her electric-powered oxygen concentrator failed during a power outage. A 46-year-old man died in a automobile accident while driving on an icy road.
The Sabine Parish coroner has confirmed the deaths of a 62-year-old man and a 59-year-old women who both died in their homes of suspected hypothermia after a power outage.
Hypothermia is also being blamed for the death of a 78-year-old woman in Franklin Parish.
Power restoration was still in progress early Tuesday afternoon for some 90,000 utility customers in Louisiana, according to FindEnergy.com. The outages are largely concentrated in Northeast Louisiana but span across the state to the Toledo Bend-Sabine River area.
The problem is particularly acute in East Carroll Parish where 95% of its nearly 3,400 Entergy Louisiana customers were still without service as of 1:30 p.m. Tuesday. Temperatures are expected to remain at or near the freezing mark for next two days before the next Arctic front arrives before the weekend and brings another blast of cold weather.
Together Louisiana, a coalition of civic and religious organizations, describes the situation in East Carroll, the state’s poorest parish with a per capital median income of less than $17,000, as a “potential humanitarian emergency.”
“Residents report widespread loss of water service and blocked roads, leaving some households unable to evacuate or reach medical care,” Together Louisiana said in a news release. “For families who rely on electricity to power ventilators, oxygen, feeding tubes, and other medical devices, the situation is life-threatening.”
The group has worked with Delta Interfaith to assess the emergency needs of approximately 3,000 households in East Carroll Parish and coordinating response efforts with other organizations. They have deployed mobile solar-powered and battery- powered trailers to support warming centers and critical facilities. Delta Interfaith also plans to deliver portable battery systems to households with medical devices that need power.
More information is available on the East Carroll efforts at deltainterfaith.org.
The highest number of outages is in Ouachita Parish, where more than 45,000 customers lacked electricity Tuesday afternoon. Local officials said snapped utility poles, downed lines and fallen trees is slowing the progress of utility restoration crews in some areas, KNOE-TV reported.
Gov. Jeff Landry traveled to Ouachita to inspect the damage and told reporters utility companies have said they anticipate repowering roughly 90% of their customers by Thursday.
Entergy Louisiana still had the most outages in its delivery footprint with just under 75,000 customers powerless as of 2 p.m., followed by Southwestern Electric Power Co. at nearly 10,500, CLECO Power with 2,000 and Concordia Power with 1,060. No other power provider reported more than 70 outages in their respective service areas.
Icy roads also continue to limit travel across northern Louisiana. Hundreds of truckers were stopped along sections of Interstate 20, though the governor said traffic was once again moving.