In a Facebook Post, Lake Charles Mayor Nic Hunter tells residents that if you plan on coming to Lake Charles, the best option is to look and leave, as water and power are not available and there’s no timetable on restoration. Governor Edwards says there are 21-hundred people sheltered by the state, most of them in hotels and motels paid for by FEMA…
cut 5 (09) “…the space”
Entergy Louisiana says they have 62-hundred workers trying to restore power. Vice President of Customer Service Melonie Stewart says some customers could be without power for weeks and restoration has to be prioritized to benefit the health and safety of communities…
cut 11 (09) “….to energize first”
Entergy reports nearly 240-thousand of its customers are without power.

Governor Edwards is expected to tour storm damage in Alexandria and Ruston this afternoon. Ruston Mayor Ronnie Walker says 95-percent of the city lost power, compared to the 70-percent that lost power when an EF-3 tornado did damage to Ruston in April of 2019…
cut 15 (09) “….out”
In Rapides Parish, numerous trees are down and power is out in most of the parish. Tommy Carnline with the Rapides Parish Sheriff’s office…
cut 13 (09) “….here”

Hurricane Laura is responsible for six deaths in Louisiana. Four of the victims died when a tree came crashing into their home. A 24-year-Calcasieu Parish man also died of carbon monoxide poisoning from a generator inside his home. Another death in Calcasieu has been classified as a drowning. The victim was on a sinking ship.

The videos and pictures of damage from Hurricane Laura in southwest Louisiana are heartbreaking and the recovery will be lengthy. Many people are returning to Calcasieu Parish to find their homes no longer habitable. Those needing shelter are encouraged to text LA Shelter to 898-211. Governor Edwards says Disaster food stamp assistance is not yet available but encourages residents in impacted areas to pre-register.
Cut 6 (11) “…eligible”
The governor’s office says there are 530-thousand customers without power. Cleco spokesperson Jennifer Cahill says there’s widespread damage with broken utility poles. down wires and structural damage…
cut 9 (05) “…start making repairs”

The damage from Hurricane Laura is not just confined to southwest Louisiana. Central and North Louisiana also took a big hit. Matt Doyle has more…
cut 3 (31) “…I”m Matt Doyle”

State Police is investigating the death of an individual who was in the custody of the Monroe Police Department. Authorities say the individual caused a serious two-vehicle crash on Wednesday night and attempted to leave the scene after officers arrived. Monroe Police subdued the individual and the person was taken to a hospital and later passed away. No other details have been provided.

Louisiana is recovering from the effects of Hurricane Laura, having to dislodge a riverboat casino from the I-10 Bridge in Lake Charles and house nearly 2,000 evacuees in hotels. Matt Doyle has the story.
Cut 1 (28) “I’m Matt Doyle”

The state health department reports 67 Hurricane Laura related water system outages, which is impacting over 220-thousand residents. L-D-H Chief Engineer Amanda Ames…
cut 17 (11) “…people without any water”

Hundreds of thousands of people spent last night without any power. Cleco spokesperson Jennifer Cahill says they are receiving additional manpower to restore service to their customers.
Cut 8 (12) “…425 line mechanics.”
Cleco reports about 100-thousand of their customers are without power. Entergy has 240-thousand customers in the dark and SWEPCO is reporting about 128-thousand outages.

Hurricane Laura cut a path of destruction from Lake Charles through north Louisiana. In Rapides Parish, the Sheriff’s Chief of Staff Tommy Carnline says they had no idea they’d be hit so hard so far inland….
cut 12 (12) “…the top”
A curfew is in place for Rapides Parish from 9 PM to 6AM.

Hurricane Laura has passed and the long recovery process begins. The I-10 Bridge in Lake Charles is closed after the Isle of Capri riverboat casino barge got loose in the lake and lodged itself under the bridge. The casino has been pulled away, but state Transportation Secretary Shawn Wilson says they are looking to see if the collision did any structural damage.
Cut 4 (11)“…there”
Not too far away from the bridge, a fire at the Biolab chemical plant in Westlake continues to smolder. A precautionary shelter in place continues within one mile of the plant.

Hurricane Laura also knocked 67 water systems offline in Louisiana. Chief Engineer at the state health department Amanda Ames says many of these systems have no power
Cut 16 (08) “…a boil advisory..”
Ames says over 220-thousand residents are impacted by the outages.

Electric companies are dispatching thousands of workers to restore power following Hurricane Laura. Kevin Barnhart has the story.
Cut 2 (31) “…I’m Kevin Barnhart”

Hurricane Laura is responsible for six deaths in Louisiana. Four of the victims died when a tree came crashing into their home. A 24-year-Calcasieu Parish man also died of carbon monoxide poisoning from a generator inside his home. Another death in Calcasieu has been classified as a drowning.

Laura is a tropical depression near Memphis this morning, but it left a mess in Louisiana. Lake Charles Mayor Nic Hunter says the Capitol One Tower looks like swiss cheese as several windows are blown out of the 22-story building. The Lake Charles I-10 bridge is closed after Laura’s strong winds dislodged a casino riverboat and the floating gambling hall slammed into the bridge…
cut 7 (03) “…bridge”
That’s Transportation Secretary Shawn Wilson. In Rapides Parish, numerous trees are down and power is out in most of the parish. Tommy Carnline with the Rapides Parish Sheriff’s office…
cut 13 (09) “…here”
And in Ruston, Mayor Ronny Walker says they suffered a worse blow than last year’s deadly tornado…
cut 14 (08) “….town”
Laura is responsible for at least six deaths.

Getting the power back on is an important part of the recovery process. Entergy Vice President of Customer Service Melonie Stewart says when the winds died down, assessment teams took to the skies to help formulate a plan…
cut 10 (08) “….understand the damage”
Entergy has 62-hundred workers mobilized, but they report 238-thousand customers are without power this morning.

Getting water turned back on is another issue. The state health department says Hurricane Laura has knocked 67 water systems offline. L-D-H’s Chief Engineer Amanda Ames says some of the systems could be functional again as soon as power is restored, but other factors may result in longer service restoration times.
Cut 18 (07) “…of the damage.”
Ames says depending on how long water service may be out, bottled water may be delivered to an area.

The Lake Charles region may have been spared the predicted catastrophic storm surge but the winds from Hurricane Laura have left a mark, and now residents in nearby Westlake, Moss Bluff, and Sulphur in Calcasieu Parish are being instructed to stay inside due to a chemical fire at the BioLab plant. State Police Trooper Derek Senegal says hazmat teams are on scene…

Cut 12 (13) “…of it reigniting.”

The plume is ignited chlorine.

Elsewhere in the area the Isle of Capri riverboat barge had to be dislodged from under the I-10 Bridge, causing a shutdown of the bridge for inspection.

Laura made landfall with 150 mile per hour winds, and winds of at least 100 miles per hour were reported in Lake Charles. Calcasieu Police Jury President Tony Guillory…

Cut 5 (05)  “…structure damage. ”

Four people are so far confirmed to have died from incidents related to the hurricane. 14-year-old girl in Leesville died when the fierce winds knocked a tree down on her home. Vernon Parish Sheriff Sam Craft says with so many trees down it wasn’t easy to get to the scene…

Cut 6 (11) “residence”

Other fatalities were reported in Jackson and Acadia Parishes.

Governor Edwards says the state is lucky to have avoided the worst-case scenarios projected for Hurricane Laura but still a record number of power crews and search and rescue first responders are scouring areas in the path of the storm. He asks you not to get in their way.

Cut 16 (10) “…do that.” 

1,500 search and rescue workers are active in the state.

Hurricane Laura is now a tropical storm but before she made landfall, she registered 150 mile per hour winds and was a near category five hurricane. Governor John Bel Edwards says so far four lives have been lost and at least 600,000 Louisianans are without power and that number is expected to climb.

Cut 15 (12) “electricity” 

Congressman Ralph Abraham is surveying areas of the state impacted by Hurricane Laura. Abraham says he started at daybreak in his vehicle in Lake Charles then drove north to Deridder and on to Alexandria.

Cut 10 (10) “…left untouched.”

Governor Edwards tweeted this morning highly discouraging citizens from sightseeing damage caused by Laura because the area is not safe.

Hurricane Laura’s fierce winds have left a trail of catastrophic damage. Jeff Palermo has the story…

Cut 1 (33) “…I’m Jeff Palermo”  

Just weeks after parish officials voted to keep a Confederate monument outside the Calcasieu Parish courthouse in Lake Charles it was toppled during last night’s hurricane. The statue, dubbed “The South’s Defenders” monument was at the center of debate recently as confederate monuments were being removed across the nation during George Floyd protests.