Severe thunderstorms today left thousands of people in the Capital Region without electricity. Entergy spokesman Philip Allison says an estimated 28,000 customers were without power in Louisiana, including some 15,700 customers in the Baton Rouge area. The totals fluctuated through mid-afternoon as electricity was restored after the storms had passed and areas in the storm’s path lost power.
According to DEMCO, nearly 15,000 customers lost power in East Baton Rouge Parish. Livingston Parish topped the list with 7,465 outages, followed by East Baton Rouge with 3,396, East Feliciana Parish with 2,262, St. Helena Parish with 791 and Ascension Parish with 380. As of 3 p.m., 9,600 customers remained without electricity.
Earlier in the day, the Storm Prediction Center in Norman, Okla., placed eastern Louisiana—including all parishes in the Capital Region—under a tornado watch until 5 p.m. The watch has since been canceled. Mike Efferson, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service’s New Orleans-Baton Rouge forecast office says damage included downed trees and highway signs, and 18-wheelers were blown over near Irish Bayou, where winds exceeded 60 mph.
At the height of the storm, East Baton Rouge was under two tornado warnings, one for the northern part of the parish and the other for the southern part. No tornadoes were reported. Efferson says a funnel cloud was sighted in Livingston Parish.—Anna Thibodeaux
