BATON ROUGE — Heavy, wet snow is causing widespread power outages in southeast Louisiana and south Mississippi.
Louisiana utilities report nearly 100,000 customers without power, with outages concentrated around Baton Rouge and on the northern shore of Lake Pontchartrain, north of New Orleans.
Utilities in Mississippi report nearly 80,000 customers without power, with outages concentrated around McComb and Hattiesburg. Brock Williamson, a spokesman for Taylorsville-based Southern Pine Electric Power Association, says snow is weighing down tree branches, which are falling onto power lines.
He says officials aren’t sure how long it will take to restore power to more than 20,000 of the cooperative’s customers whose lights are out. Southern Pine and other cooperatives are seeking extra crews from other utilities to help.
