The state’s electricity companies are asking residents to conserve power use today as the grids are being overloaded because of unusually high demand due to winter weather. SWEPCO is reporting that nearly 3,000 customers still don’t have power in the Shreveport area, and Entergy has about 5300 in the dark. Recommendations include keeping thermostats at or below 68, and delay bathing and doing clothes or dishes until later today.

Many major interstates are still closed at this time due to icy conditions. Department of Transportation spokesperson Rodney Mallett says temperatures were so low for so long, causing the most severe freezing of roadways seen here in quite some time. He says they worked to do all they could to keep roads open…:
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He says they will open roads when it is safe to do so.

Louisiana continues to suffer through its worst flu season on record, with nearly 10 in 100 doctors visits in the last month for flu related symptoms. State Health Department Immunization Director Frank Welch says a nasty strain of flu, known as H3-N2, is more resilient than usual this year:
Cut 5 (08) “seven days”
Welch says complications from the flu kills roughly 700 Louisianans a year.

There were tragic deaths reported in the state this week due to winter weather events. An infant died in Metairie Wednesday morning after a car slid into a canal from an icy road. And cold temperatures claimed the life of an elderly man in New Roads early yesterday. Pointe Coupee Parish Sheriff Bud Torres says 84-year-old Paul Maker was found dead due to hypothermia in his home. He says this is why they urge folks to check on neighbors…:
Cut 9 (11) “to safety”