Due to damage from Hurricane Ida, large portions of I-10 are currently shut down with standing water and other harmful conditions making it impossible to get through.
Melissa Matey of the Louisiana State Police spoke with WWL's Newell Normand, giving an update on what major roads, highways, and interstates can be traveled.
With power outages across most of the state, one of the issues Matey has been dealing with is communication as people are calling to try and get back into the state as well as leave the state.
"We're getting a lot of messages, and we're answering them as we can, but of course spotty communication and internet," she shared.
When it comes to the major roadways that aren't driveable, I-10 seems to be the big one.
"I-10 is not going to be passable right now," Matey said. "That's pretty much from Williams all the way through to Baton Rouge. We do have standing water."
Currently, there is standing water along the interstate and numerous trees down in some areas making it impossible to drive on the interstate.
"They're trying to clear that as quickly as possible," Matey said.
Matey also shared that there are some issues with I-12, and I-55 has several trees down; however, people are getting out and about.
"One of the problems is we don't have the manpower between us and DOTD to man any of those areas, on-ramps and exit ramps," Matey said. "But we are seeing people on the interstate, so just because there's not necessarily barricades, we are asking people to shelter in place until we can get those roads clear."
Matey confirmed that while some stretches of I-10 from Williams Blvd. to Baton Rouge are fine, the entire roadway is currently impassible.
"People just have to drive safe and be really careful, but we are still asking them to stay put, especially because we have a lot of emergency workers going in those areas that we need clear," she said. "We definitely don't want to stack up with traffic."
When it comes to those asking when they can come back, Matey said that everyone is still being asked to stay where they are.
"The storm just came through," she said.
Matey also shared that right now, on certain roadways, police are not being allowed to get through, stressing the point even more that no one should be out on the roads at the moment. By staying home, more people are being safe and not putting added pressure on first responders.
"We don't want to tax the emergency services," she said.
