BATON ROUGE, LA — Carbon monoxide (CO) poisoning caused one death and more than 60 emergency room visits in Louisiana parishes most severely hit by Hurricane Lili, the state’s health officer told The News. Home generators that operated during storm-caused power failures are being blamed. (Lili struck Louisiana Oct. 3.)
Dr. Jimmy Guidry said those numbers may understate the problem; his figures were only from reporting hospitals in four parishes. He said he surveyed hospitals in Lafayette, Iberia, Acadia, and Vermilion parishes. The one known CO-caused death occurred at Crowley, in Acadia parish.