doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com Hurricane Laura

I know there are a number of board members who live in the gulf states, but for those who haven't experienced the fun of being in a cat five hurricane, don't do it!

I have been in countless hurricanes but Laura was the worst. It was still well over a cat one when it hit Alexandria with gusts well over 100 mph.

From friends throughout the States and Europe, it seems it was not reported very well. Two friends of mine live in Lake Charles, a major petro-chemical city, and they give me daily reports about the damage. There are no power poles standing and seven power transmission lines are catastrophically destroyed, towers and lines.

It will be another month before they can restore power, then they can start to rebuild the city and petro-chemical plants.

Alexandria is some sixty miles from the gulf but still had the worst wind damage of any storm in my seventy years.

I love my state but sometimes nature has no mercy on us. Western La. has a long row to hoe.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-BhYBd1ooho

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VTMAJWr5TEY

I included two videos. The first is video of the actual storm while the second is the aftermath. If ya'll notice, the aftermath video looks like is was shot in winter except for green grass. That's because the hardwoods have most of their leaves blown off so the trees look winter brown.

J

True enough, a friend and board member was in an area that was hit pretty hard. His house is fine but houses a mile away were destroyed. Marc did mention he has not had electricity for a while and has been sleeping outside in a hammock. I hope you and your neighbors recover quickly.
Steve

We got a little taste of what a hurricane is like here in Iowa a month ago. We will be a long time recovering.

Hang in there James.

James, I breathed a sigh of relief when my stock was delivered to your shop the other day. I hope you're making out OK.

I live in Ruston, LA and the storm came right through town, we are a 4 hour drive from the gulf. On Saturday 95 % of the town of 25,000 was without power, the sherrif reported over 200 major trees down. The neighboring town of Monroe had 500 utility repair trucks in town. Those out of state crews saved the day! It's tough to be a fat 79 year old without AC. WE will be at least a year cleaning up but we will clean up.
bill

my folks in gibsland (former sweet potato farmers, now heavily into tree farms) reported no structural damage, but massive damage to trees with the resulting loss of electric power, and the influx of linemen from many other jurisdictions.
most every electrical distribution company has substantially reduced the size of their emergency repair crews/fleets, nowadays the norm is co-operative agreements with many other distribution companies - including some that are surprising distances away.

I am in Louisiana also and handle property claims. The state was hit hard, Lake Charles was really hit hard was wind damage. I am talking commercial buildings, bent i-beams that look like a large bowling ball was rolled through the buildings.