Cold weather and icy roads caused road and office closures and even crashes over the past couple of days.
Power outages affected about 9,000 Entergy customers in Lafourche and 24 in Terrebonne. The outages began about 11 p.m. Tuesday.
Michael Burns, a spokesman for Entergy Louisiana, said the weather caused an equipment failure at one of the company’s substations. That caused most of the outages in the Thibodaux area, he said.
The area forecast calls for temperatures as low as 28 degrees Thursday.
Temperatures dropped to 20 degrees shortly before 6 a.m. today in New Orleans, breaking a record low of 23 degrees in 1977. Shortly before 7 a.m. today, Baton Rouge had temperatures of 14 degrees, beating a record low of 18 degrees in 1977.
The following will be closed Thursday:
Bayou Community Academy in Thibodaux. Catholic schools in Lafourche and Terrebonne. City of Thibodaux offices and City Court. Covenant Christian Academy in Houma. Fletcher Technical Community College. Lafourche Parish Clerk of Court's Office and state District Court. Lafourche Parish public schools. Max Charter School in Thibodaux. Messiah Montessori School in Houma. Nicholls State University. The following will be open:
Houma Christian School. Lafourche and Terrebonne government offices. St. Matthew's Episcopal School in Houma. Students can wear school shirts with jeans, any long-sleeved under shirts and any warm outerwear. Terrebonne Parish public schools. Schools Superintendent Philip Martin said the dress code will be suspended so students can wear warm clothes, and students will be picked up at their homes instead of at bus stops. Normal garbage operations in Lafourche and the city of Thibodaux will resume Thursday.
Several roads in Lafourche and Terrebonne were closed this morning.
Trooper First Class Jesse LaGrange said Troop C in Gray responded to nine crashes between Tuesday and this evening.
Ice on the road led to at least four of those crashes, LaGrange said.
He said two with minor injuries occurred Tuesday night on the Amelia Bridge, and one without injuries occurred this morning on Bayou Blue Road. Another with minor injuries occurred this afternoon on La. 1 near La. 1010 in Napoleonville.
"Drive slow and give yourself extra breaking distance before you get to stop signs or curves in the roadways," LaGrange said. "If you don’t have to be on the road, stay home or stay where you are."
LaGrange also discouraged drivers from going around barricades. Be careful of any wet spots on the road, which could be ice, he said.
Terrebonne’s emergency preparedness director, Earl Eues Jr., encouraged residents to conserve electricity because the amount of people using it could cause shortages.
Eues said to be mindful of "the four P’s."
"Pipes, plants, pets and people should be taken care of," he said. "Any plants, you probably should cover or take them in. Please bring your pets inside; they will not fare this cold weather at all. We’re going to be under a hard freeze for a few hours. You should have your pipes wrapped already. If you know someone who’s sick, elderly or lives alone, please check on them and make sure they’ve got heat."
Combustible materials should be kept at least three feet away from space heaters, he said, and residents should not use ovens to warm their homes.
-- Staff Writer Bridget Mire can be reached at 448-7639 or bridget.mire@dailycomet.com. Follow her on Twitter @bridget_mire.