Two more people have died in Louisiana due to the effects of the unprecedented winter weather including freezing temperatures, the Louisiana Department of Health (LDH) announced Saturday.
The two recent deaths were that of a 68-year-old man and a 44-year-old woman in the Avoyelles Parish area. The two died from carbon monoxide poisoning after they placed a generator in their camper to keep warm, according to the health department.
Following the freezing temperatures in Louisiana this week, hundreds of thousands of people in the northern and middle parts of the state experienced power outages and on Thursday, Gov. Jon Bel Edwards (D) announced that about 1 million people lacked potable drinking water.
“There are currently 98 water outages across the state impacting more than 245,000 people, and there are multiple boil water advisories that affect almost a million people across the state,” he said at a press conference.
President Biden also approved states of emergency for Louisiana, Oklahoma and Texas due to the weather.
Overall, five people have passed from weather-related deaths in the state since the extreme conditions hit this month.
The LDH released guidelines that warn against using portable generators indoors to create makeshift stoves and heaters because they produce carbon monoxide. The colorless, odorless gas can quickly kill or incapacitate those who encounter it, even in well-ventilated areas, the department notes.
The department further warned that should you start to feel symptoms associated with carbon monoxide poisoning while using a generator, such as feeling sick, dizzy or weak, seek fresh air immediately.
“Using a generator safely is a matter of life and death,” the LDH wrote.
Previously, a 50-year-old male and a 74-year-old female, both from Lafayette Parish, as well as a 77-year-old male from Calcasieu Parish, had died in Louisiana amid the severe winter weather. The three people passed from a slip on ice that caused a head injury, exposure and a slip into a pool that resulted in a drowning, respectively.
Updated 9:36 p.m.