A rare winter storm has left much of the Gulf Coast frozen, closing highways, grounding flights and canceling classes for millions of students more accustomed to hurricane dismissals than snow days.
Locally, portions of Interstates 10, 12 and 110 and more than a dozen city-parish roads have been forced to close. At a Tuesday morning press conference, Mayor Sid Edwards and a handful of city-parish officials said more road closures should be expected as snow continued to fall. Residents were urged to refrain from driving.
The Louisiana Department of Transportation and Development is encouraging the public to regularly check 511la.org to stay up to date on road closures. A full list of city-parish road closures can be found here.
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Nearly 2,000 flights to, from or within the U.S. were canceled Tuesday and about 10,000 others have been delayed, according to the online flight tracker FlightAware.
At the Baton Rouge Metropolitan Airport, American, Delta and United canceled their Tuesday flights. Flight cancellations were expected to continue throughout Wednesday and into Thursday morning, according to a Tuesday night press release from the airport. BTR encouraged flyers to contact their airlines directly for the most accurate information.
Most schools and universities in the Capital Region remain closed Wednesday, and some closures have already been announced for Thursday. Baton Rouge’s largest universities—LSU and Southern University—have shifted to remote classes. A regularly updated list of school and university closures can be found here.
All city-parish offices will remain closed Wednesday and Thursday. A decision on when garbage and recycling collection will resume will be made Wednesday, according to the mayor’s office.
The Belle of Baton Rouge casino and The Queen Baton Rouge were both closed as of Wednesday morning.
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Many area hospitals remain open for emergency care, but most clinics have closed and elective procedures are being postponed across the board.
A full list of Baton Rouge General closures can be found here, and a full list of Lane Regional Medical Center closures can be found here. Check the status of Ochsner’s impacted locations here, and check the status of Woman’s Hospital here.
This story originally appeared in a Jan. 21 issue of Daily Report. It has been updated with new information. To keep up with Baton Rouge business and politics, subscribe to the free Daily Report e-newsletter here.