Interstate 10 ‘gridlocked’ in Harrison County as Ida evacuees try to make their way home
Avoid getting on Interstate 10 in Harrison County if you can.
Traffic is extremely congested on the interstate’s westbound lanes, especially at the intersections of Canal Road (Exit 31) and County Farm Road (Exit 28), as evacuees from Hurricane Ida try to make their way home.
“The Sheriff’s Department is present to assist and has closed some of the off-ramps for safety, however I-10 westbound is gridlocked,” Harrison County Public Information Officer Kimberly Compton said in a news release. “Please consider alternate routes if possible.”
Mandatory evacuations were issued in five Louisiana Parishes and for New Orleans residents outside the city’s levee protection system. Mayor LaToya Cantrell also asked residents inside the system to evacuate voluntarily if they were able to do so.
Some Coast residents also evacuated before Hurricane Ida made landfall Sunday as a Category 4 storm.
Power is still out across much of southeast Louisiana. It’s not clear how long the outages will last, but it will likely take weeks to fully restore electricity.
“If you have already evacuated, do not return here or elsewhere in southeast Louisiana until the office of emergency preparedness tells you it’s ready to receive you,” Louisiana Gov. John Bel Edwards said at a press conference in LaPlace, the scene of devastating flooding during Ida.
But with no power and limited cell service, some people outside New Orleans have heard nothing from their family members since the storm and are desperate for information.
Pascagoula resident Joey Pettey told the Sun Herald Monday that he planned to head for New Orleans first thing Tuesday morning to check on his mother and great-aunt, who rode out the storm in the Metairie area. As Ida’s winds raged, they begged him to come pick them up.
