(The Center Square) − Over 100,000 people in Louisiana remained without power on Monday as freezing rain and icy road conditions slowed restoration work across the northern part of the state.
Entergy, the state’s largest utility, accounts for about 90% of the outages. The utility said it hopes to release restoration estimates by late morning.
Cleco outages peaked at 17,000 and had dropped to 10,000, according to its latest update.
The Louisiana Department of Health confirmed two winter storm-related deaths in Caddo Parish, saying the men died of hypothermia.
Entergy said it had around 3,200 company employees, contractors and mutual-aid workers positioned in Louisiana as of Sunday afternoon, with more expected to arrive.
Entergy reported about 53,000 customers without power as of 7 a.m. on Sunday, with icy roads and downed trees slowing damage assessments and repairs.
In Ouachita Parish, around 48,000 residents have no electricity, along with thousands more in Richland and Jackson parishes.
Officials urged residents to use local warming centers if travel is safe, avoid running generators indoors and treat downed power lines as energized. Entergy said downed lines should be reported to the utility at 1-800-9OUTAGE or to local emergency responders.
