8-28-20
HURRICANE LAURA MADE LANDFALL AS A CATEGORY FOUR HURRICANE, REEKING HAVOC AND LEAVING A TRAIL OF DESTRUCTION IN SOUTHWESTERN AND NORTHERN LOUISIANA. SYLVIA MASTERS HAS MORE.
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AS OF LAST NIGHT, CLECO HAD MORE THAN NINETY-NINE THOUSAND CUSTOMERS STILL WITHOUT POWER. A COMPANY OFFICIAL SAID THEY HAVE MORE THAN TWO THOUSAND PERSONNEL WORKING TO RESTORE POWER TO THEIR CUSTOMERS. ENTERGY HAD FIVE HUNDRED THIRTY-NINE THOUSAND CUSTOMERS WITHOUT POWER. ENTERGY HAS A RESTORATION TEAM OF THIRTEEN THOUSAND AND THEY ARE ADDING WORKERS FROM TWENTY-SEVEN OTHER STATES.
GOVERNOR JOHN BEL EDWARDS SAYS HURRICANE LAURA WAS THE MOST POWERFUL STORM TO MAKE LANDFALL IN LOUISIANA. HE SAYS THE TEN TO TWENTY FOOT STORM SURGE DID NOT HAPPEN BECAUSE THE EYE SHIFTED SLIGHTLY EAST AND DID NOT CROSS THE CALCASIEU SHIP CHANNEL. AS A RESULT, HE SAYS, LOUISIANA DID NOT SUSTAIN AND SUFFER THE ABSOLUTE CATASTROPHIC DAMAGE THAT THEY THOUGHT WAS POSSIBLE. EDWARDS SAYS THERE’S A LOT OF WORK TO DO NOW AS LIVES HAVE BEEN TURNED UPSIDE DOWN BECAUSE OF DAMAGE TO HOMES AND BUSINESSES.
A HOME IN BROUSSARD WAS DESTROYED BY A FIRE CAUSED BY A GENERATOR. LEO HALL SAYS HE HAD REFUELED THE GENERATOR AND WAS TRYING TO RESTART IT WHEN THE AIR FILTER CAUGHT FIRE. HE TRIED TO EXTINGUISH IT BUT THE HOME QUICKLY BECAME ENGULFED IN FLAMES. STEVEN HALL, THE FATHER OF LEO, WHO OWNS THE HOME, SAID HE BUILT IT FROM SCRATCH AROUND THIRTY YEARS AGO AND HE’S READY TO BUILD AGAIN.
LOUISIANA HAD ANOTHER TWENTY-THREE DEATHS FROM COVID-NINETEEN, ACCORDING TO THE LOUISIANA DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH. THERE ARE NOW MORE THAN FORTY-SEVEN HUNDRED PEOPLE WHO HAVE DIED FROM THE CORONAVIRUS. THIRTY-EIGHT FEWER PEOPLE ARE HOSPITALIZED WITH THE CONDITION, MOVING THE TOTAL BELOW NINE HUNDRED. THREE FEWER PATIENTS ARE ON VENTILATORS. THERE WERE MORE THAN SEVEN HUNDRED NEW CASES.
ACADIANA HAD FORTY-SIX MORE POSITIVE CASES OF COVID-NINETEEN, WHICH IS THE LOWEST AMOUNT IN MONTHS. LAFAYETTE PARISH HAD THE MOST WITH TWENTY-TWO. THERE WERE FOUR MORE DEATHS IN THE REGION. IBERIA PARISH HAD TWO WHILE ST. MARY AND VERMILLION PARISHES EACH HAD ONE. THE TOTAL FOR ACADIANA IS FIVE HUNDRED EIGHTY-SEVEN.
SOUTHWEST LOUISIANA RECORDED JUST FOURTEEN MORE CASES. THE TOTAL IS JUST UNDER ELEVEN THOUSAND. THERE ARE THREE MORE DEATHS IN THE REGION, TWO IN CALCASIEU PARISH AND ONE IN JEFF DAVIS PARISH. THE TOTAL IS TWO HUNDRED EIGHTY-FIVE.
