The capital region woke up to widespread damage in the wake of Hurricane Ida.
In Ascension Parish late Sunday reported the storm’s first fatality: a man who died when a tree fell onto his house.
On Monday morning, spotty cell phone service, blocked roads and sweeping power outages for more than a million customers throughout south Louisiana made it tough for officials to figure out the extent of the wreckage.'
Police, sheriff's deputies, fire crews and other first responders were only starting to navigate the aftermath once the sun offered enough light to see it.
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Officials are urging the public to stay off the roads Sunday morning in the aftermath of Hurricane Ida.
At first glance, it appeared that parishes south and west of Baton Rouge that braced for a direct hit were largely spared, while areas to the east were hit the hardest.
Where the eye of the storm passed over a point near Walker sometime around 10:30 p.m. Sunday, Livingston Parish's emergency response director Brandi Janes said she didn't yet know how many people were hurt or how much property was destroyed. All she knew as the sun rose was that her teams would be dealing with a lot of downed trees and blocked roads.
A massive tree fell onto the parking lot of Oak Point strip mall in Watson, according to Livingston Sheriff Jason Ard. And a limb smashed into a car on Florida Boulevard in Livingston.
Around 7:30 a.m., Ard was in Springfield trying to clear a path out so he could return to the Sheriff's Office, his spokeswoman Lori Steele said.
Much of the parish remained under flash flood advisories through the next day. West Colyell Creek at I-12 in Walker remained high and flowing onto the roadways.
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An Ascension Parish man was killed Sunday when a tree fell on his home during Hurricane Ida, sheriff's deputies said.
In Tangipahoa Parish, Councilwoman Kim Coates, who represents Ponchatoula to the south, said crews were trying to stop up a ruptured natural gas pipeline. Early Monday she had just started getting cell service again and was still fielding reports of other damage in real-time. All she knew, she said, is that it's bad.
Similar reports were coming in throughout the greater Baton Rouge area early Monday, as police and first responders surveilled the roadways, crews were dispatched to clear debris. Officials warned people to stay put until conditions improved, since the outages left many traffic lights dark and many roadways remained unpassable.
St. James Parish President Pete Dufresne said there was widespread damage there, and urged residents to stay inside. The whole parish was under a boil water advisory.