More Hollybeach Pictures

Hollybeach

More Lake Charles pictures

Lake Charles Pictures

The Office of Family Services lost much of their roof. This building is on Broad Street near the downtown area. The Chennault airpark sustained heavy damage, as did the trailerpark nearby. As with other areas, while some trailers were totally destroyed, others looked almost untouched. At Millionaire aviation, we found these cars and thought they had been moved there. We found out out that a metal building did most of this damage as it flew from inside the fenced area.

More Lake Charles Pictures

While things here are improving, we still have a long way to go. Lots of people have asked us to post more of the pictures that we've taken over the last couple of weeks Here are more in no particular order.

Lingering Dangers

Now that the Parish is welcoming everyone back, people assume that everything is safe. One danger that is still around involves trees. In many places large limbs and branches still hang by a thread. During heavier winds you can see them swing or hear them creak. Some of these limbs are poised to cause even more damage.

More Hackberry Pictures

These are a few more Hackberry pictures. I'll have to post more a little later, once I resolve a few computer issues.

Hackberry Trip

We went to Hackberry today. We were originally trying to drive down to Hollybeach to check on a friend's camp but were told that we couldn't get that far. As we drove down Highway 27, we found a checkpoint a few miles south of Sulphur. I realized that I hadn't taken any pictures of checkpoints that we had here in Lake Charles, so I decided to post this one. Based upon what we saw in Hackberry I can't even begin to imagine what Hollybeach and Constance Beach must look like. Again, there were many dead cows, some impaled on barbed wire fences. They must have become trapped there as the storm surge was driving them towards higher land. Mobile homes were completely destroyed, in many places there was very little left on the land where they once stood. There were lots of displaced boats, and of course many damaged cars, vans, and trucks. While you did see tree damage, most of the damage we saw here was caused by wind. I'll post as many pictures here as I can until I lose my internet connection again.

Trees

As neighborhoods are clearing, trees and debris are piling up. In this subdivision off of Lisle Peters, the piles of trees are roughly four to five feet high on each side of the road; it looks like you're driving through a logging camp. To get an idea of the height of these piles, look at the truck in one of these pictures. They say that FEMA is clearing them once they are stacked, and you can really see the cleaning process underway near Whispering Woods. Peter and I passed a wood chipping or mulching operation underway at Prien Lake Park today and took these pictures. This operation runs all day as chip or mulch is trucked away and new trees and limbs are dropped off.

Progress

Power is coming up fast. You can see a shift from a general response to blanket outages to a dedicated effort to get specific areas back up. On Lisle Peters Road there were nearly a dozen trucks working throughout the day to get power restored. It looked like an insurmountable task judging by the level of destruction there, but somehow they got it done. People are hard at work repairing and rebuilding. Mail is coming online, but very slowly. Yesterday you could pick up checks and limited mail at the Moss Street location and the lines were predictably long. Today I think more locations are open, but the Drew Station location is down for a while. Water test results were fine so we can drink the water. There are no more checkpoints, no more restricted access into town and passes are no longer needed to get into town. Crime remains low to non existent. They are using infrared and heat seeking technology to detect movement at night. Looters trying to get into a Walgreens did not get far the other night, police caught the guys about the time they broke the windows. I am going to try and post a few more random pictures on here today, but connections are slow; we still don't have internet access.

Sunday Notes

The City continues to make progress. Cormies opened, and started off the day with their popular breakfast sandwiches and biscuits. They had fuel and some meats. People are moving in, cleaning up, and drying out. Traffic is becoming a little more challenging. We've learned the rules of the road. Some new people obviously don't know that if a red light isn't working, you treat it as a four way stop. Today alone we saw a half dozen people blowing through these intersections. The other things to look out for, particularly when its dark, are trees and telephone poles that jut out into the roadway. I heard someone was pretty seriously injured when they hit one of these after curfew. I was told of a good site where there are pretty active forums, and I'll try to post it as a link. This is new to me, so in case it doesn't work its as www.lakecharles.com. Mail is slowly trickling back. Today there is limited mail pickup at the Moss Street location. Finally, since I didn't get a chance to do so earlier, I'd like to thank Jeff Davis Bank and Dan Eason for fuel early on when none was available.

The National Guard

I can't say enough about these guys. First, they are everywhere and in constant motion. As I pulled into a subidivision today, I found four Humvees at the home of an older couple, and a team of guys clearing the yard of trees. These guys were there for hours and never stopped working. From the very beginning the Guard has been an integral part of the response, from manning checkpoints to clearing roadways. They are friendly, professional, and courteous. The frustrating thing though is that they will not let anyone do anything for them. If you offer them water, cold drinks, food, anything, they won't have it. They say that they are here to contribute, not to be a "burden." They guys I met were from throughout the country. Today a few were from Ohio, Florida, and Arkansas. They say that they've been surprised at how friendly and appreciative the people here have been. We would be a lot further behind were it not for them.

David's House

I've had a lot a calls about David's house. Here are some pictures I took yesterday. From what I could see, I think I got all of the different angles.