As Hurricane Laura starts moving onshore in Southwest Louisiana, thousands of residents statewide have already lost power.
According to poweroutage.us, just over 188,700 people in Louisiana have lost power as of 1:35 a.m.
Nearly 100% of Cameron Parish is without power (1,996 residents) - the highest number in the state currently.
Acadiana parishes, including Acadia, Jeff Davis, and Evangeline Parishes are seeing outages as well.
KATC spoke with Mary Laurent with SLEMCO, who said they were seeing about 8,500 Acadiana residents without power at around midnight with Vermilion Parish seeing the most significant outages. The majority in the area is between Lafayette, Kaplan, and Abbeville.
Laurent said residents should report outages, but should try and stay inside until winds die down. They're asking residents to remain patient, as it will get warm quick, especially as the sun rises on Thursday.
Generator safety tips:
- Don't try to hook up the whole house unless it's done with a double throw switch - this can cause electricity to be fed back to utility crews and cause them to be electrocuted
- Don't put a generator in a closed garage or house - this can cause carbon monoxide to be emitted into the air
Laura's intense winds will knock down power lines, and LUS is warning people to just stay away from them. Those loose or dangling lines could still have electricity running through them, so you shouldn't try to pick them up or drive over them.
Your best bet is to report any downed power lines you see. Crews can't head out to fix those lines until winds are under 39 mph.
You can track outages based on your utility company and/or find more information by clicking these links: SLEMCO, CLECO, Entergy, LUS
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