My parents moved to the Lake Charles, Louisiana area in 1959 and they don’t remember the interstate ever closing because it’s under water but it is closed now due to flooding from the recent rains. The suggested detour takes you up through Shreveport, which, on a day with normal traffic, would take at least 3-1/2 hours to get up there and then another 3-1/2 hours to get back down south to I-10. There are several “not suggested” routes, one that goes south of the interstate through Cameron Parish and over to Texas, and another that goes along 190 through Bon Weir, TX and Merryville, LA, which is the route I take because the bridge there is smaller. That route had been closed due to water over the highway but yesterday the water there receded enough to open that highway.
State police are reporting heavy traffic everywhere – can you imagine the amount of traffic along I-10 being diverted to two lane, highways that go through towns? I’m certainly happy my route from Texas to Missouri and back doesn’t take me along those flooded roads.
It isn’t funny but it made me laugh to read one of the local TV stations had a segment entitled “How to get from Texas to Louisiana”. The local news station for Lake Charles is KPLC TV if anyone wants to see some of the flooding pictures or keep up with the interstate closure.
Susan says
You know it’s bad flooding when it closes the interstate! A few years back, they had rains like that in the Dakotas and the water had gone down some when I drove the two-lane US highway west through South Dakota. It was so strange to be driving on a raised highway, surrounded by water that was normally fields, and to look off and see houses with water up to the tops of the windows. It was very eerie, and I was glad there wasn’t much traffic. I can’t imagine being stuck in the mess that has to be the I-10 detours!