Authorities in Louisiana on Wednesday closed a 100-mile stretch of Interstate 10 covering nearly half of the state, as a powerful winter storm brought record snowfall to the Gulf Coast and triggered the state’s first tropical storm warning.
The announcement shortly after midnight said 200 miles of highways in Louisiana were closed due to deteriorating conditions. Authorities had closed a 50-mile stretch between Baton Rouge and Lafayette, and another 50 miles to and from New Orleans as of early Tuesday.
The eight inches of snow that fell at Louis Armstrong New Orleans International Airport on Tuesday beat the record of 2.7 inches set in 1963, according to the National Weather Service.
Interstate 10 is one of the three major coast-to-coast highways in the United States and an important east-west link for the southern Louisiana cities of New Orleans, Baton Rouge and Lafayette. Its length in Louisiana is less than 275 miles, and it connects the state with Mississippi and Texas.
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