BATON ROUGE, La. (BRPROUD) — Gov. Jeff Landry and the Governor’s Office of Homeland Security and Emergency Preparedness director discussed the severe weather that hit Louisiana Monday night.
GOHSEP Director Jacques Thibodeaux said during a noon Tuesday, May 14 press conference that they are urging the public to follow updates from local officials. He said the public should also be careful when running generators or other power equipment during storm cleanup.
Thibodeaux said 16 parishes were impacted by the weather and the maximum number of power outages was 160,000. As of noon Tuesday, there are about 53,000 people without power and the number is “getting better by the hour,” Thibodeaux said.
Landry said crews are still working to check the damages and that storms took a lot from many communities in the state. More than a dozen were impacted by storms Monday night.
“As these storm systems collided or converged and this event unfolded, the system became both dangerous and deadly,” Landry said.
“Currently, the National Weather Service is assessing the affected areas to determine whether the damage was caused by the straight-line winds or frenetic activity. We, as Jacque said, are working with all 16 affected parishes and their OEPs so that we can get the resources needed to those affected parishes and those that were affected the most,” Landry said. “We would again urge any of the municipalities that may have incurred any damage to work through their parish or OEPs and then move that information over to the state office here at GOSHEP.”
The Louisiana Department of Health confirmed that two women and an unborn baby died as a result of the storms.
“Our thoughts this morning are with the families of the two victims who died as a result of the storms. We will use the damage reports from our local partners to determine a recovery path going forward,” Thibodeaux said.
GOSHEP said the storms caused damage to trees and power lines. It also caused flash flooding and other problems in the affected areas.
Entergy and DEMCO still report thousands are without power in Ascension, East Baton Rouge, East Feliciana, Iberville, Livingston, Pointe Coupee, West Baton Rouge and West Feliciana parishes.
Thibodeaux said Entergy is working to restore power but hopes to get it back up as quickly as possible.
Landry said crews are still assessing the damage, so leaders will know exactly what happened.
“To determine whether the damage was caused by the straight-line winds or tornadic activity,” Landry said.
Landry said that more storms are possibly on the way later this week. He said it’s important to be aware.
“Urging our residents to stay vigilant,” said Landry.
Chief Meteorologist Sam Parish said heavy rain is expected in the Greater Baton Rouge area Friday evening.
