Homeowners who suffered damage from Hurricane Laura and Delta will not have to pay two different “Named Storm Deductibles.” Insurance Commissioner Jim Donelon says most homeowner policies require a deductible for each event, but that’s not the case if the damage is from two named storms in the same season.
Cut 4 (10) “…Hurricane Laura”

The LSU football team has a 1-2 record for the first time since 1994 after getting upset at Missouri in a game that featured very little defense. The Bayou Bengals gave up 586 yards of total offense as Mizzou pulled off the 45-41 upset. Coach Ed Orgeron is not happy with what’s happening on that side of the ball
Cut 7 (12) “get it fixed”

The battle over the potential confirmation of Metairie native Amy Coney Barret begins today in a Senate committee. Matt Doyle has the story.
Cut 3 (30) “…I’m Matt Doyle”

Delta has weakened to a Depression over Western Mississippi, but it has left about half-million customers without power. Hurricane Delta made landfall as a Category Two hurricane with top winds at 100-miles per hour near Creole in Cameron Parish. 90-mile per hour plus wind speeds were recorded in Lake Charles, Lake Arthur, and New Iberia. Delta is the tenth named storm to make landfall this year in the United States, which is a record.

Governor John Bel Edwards is holding a Unified Command group meeting this morning and then he’ll conduct a flyover of the damage and will make a stop in Jennings. The Jefferson Davis town has numerous trees down.

Mandatory evacuations were issued for Allen, Beauregard, Calcasieu, Jeff Davis, and most of Cameron. Calcasieu Parish Sheriff Tony Mancuso says their deputies have completed initial assessments and he says it’s safe for Calcasieu Parish residents to return to their homes.

Several roads are closed in southwest and central today as a result of high water. Delcambre took on a significant storm surge and many of the town’s streets are flooded.

Entergy says it has 292-thousand customers without power. At last report, Cleco says at the height of the storm 132-thousand of its customers were without power and 12-thousand of them have seen their electricity restored. The Pineville-based utility company says they have 21-hundred contractors working to clear debris, repair system damage, and restore power.

The governor’s office says peak power outages for Hurricane Delta appear to be around 688-thousand. After Hurricane Laura, it was around 615-thousand customers without power. The governor’s spokesperson Christina Stephens says Delta’s bands went over some more populated areas, despite it being a weaker storm than Laura.

Delta has left downed trees and power lines across the state and about a half-million utility customers are without power. Entergy is facing another massive restoration operation as they have 308-thousand customers without electricity. Cleco says 125-thousand of its customers are in need of power.

Delta made landfall in Cameron Parish at around six PM last night as a Category Two hurricane with maximum sustained winds at 100 miles per hour.

The highest rainfall totals can be seen from a stretch of land from Lake Charles to Alexandria. Allen Parish Sheriff Doug Hebert tells K-A-L-B TV that Highway 165 is impassable north of Oberlin. Portions of Highway 14 in Iberia and Vermilion Parish are underwater. Several streets are underwater in Delcambre as a result of storm surge.

With estimated 500-thousand utility customers in Louisiana without power, many Louisiana residents will use generators to keep their refrigerator cold and an air conditioner running. State Fire Marshal spokesperson Ashley Rodrigue says the generator should be at least 20 feet away from your home and never plug the generator into a wall outlet because that could cause a fire…
cut 4 (08) “…like that”
Rodrigue says generator users should use a heavy-duty, outdoor extension cord to plug appliances into generators.

The highest wind speed recorded last night was in Lake Arthur at 96-miles per hour. Lake Charles had a wind speed of 95, 90-miles per hour in New Iberia, and 89 in Jennings. Preliminary data shows a wind speed of 75-miles per hour in Opelousas and Lafayette and 63-miles per hour in Alexandria.

Tropical Storm Delta is nearly out of Louisiana, but it has left hundreds of thousands without power after coming ashore as a Category Two hurricane last night in Cameron Parish. The center of Delta is in northeast Louisiana, but moving north-northeast at 16 miles per hour.

Many people are starting their day without power. Entergy reports 320-thousand customers are without power. Cleco says they have 125-thousand customers with no electricity. SLEMCO says its restoration process began at 5 AM as 98-thousand customers are without power. SWEPCO says they have 22-thousand outages.

Since we are seeing widespread power outages, the state department of transportation is reminding motorists that if you arrive at an intersection with traffic signals that have no power, it should be treated as a four-way stop sign. The first vehicle to arrive at the intersection proceeds first.

This morning, Governor Edwards will hold a Unified Command Group briefing to get updates on what happened in southwest Louisiana and elsewhere last night. He’s scheduled to flyover affected areas, weather permitting.

As Delta pushes away from Louisiana, the National Weather Service says wind gusts of 35 miles per hour are still possible into the early afternoon for portions of central Louisiana and the Ark-La-Miss.

The highest wind speed recorded last night was in Lake Arthur at 96-miles per hour. Lake Charles had a wind speed of 95, 90-miles per hour in New Iberia and 89 in Jennings. Preliminary data shows a wind speed of 75-miles per hour in Opelousas and Lafayette and 63-miles per hour in Alexandria.

Delta was the fourth named storm to make landfall in Louisiana, which ties a record for the state set in 2002. Delta’s eye made landfall just 12 miles to the east of where Laura came ashore six weeks ago.

For the second time in 43 days, a hurricane made landfall in Cameron Parish. Hurricane Delta roared ashore last night near Creole as a Category Two storm with 100-mile per hour winds. Laura made landfall as a Category Four storm about 13 miles to the west of Creole on August 27th.

Delta is now over Northeastern Louisiana. Heavy rains and Tropical Storm Force Winds continue near its path. Delta’s maximum sustained winds are still at 40 miles per hour as it moves north-northeast at 16 miles per hour.

Entergy Louisiana is reporting 318-thousand of its customers are without power. As of six AM, Cleco says 125-thousand of its customers are without power, with 55-thousand outages in Rapides and Iberia parishes.

High water has resulted in numerous road closures.

With Delta making landfall last night in southwest Louisiana that means ten storms have made landfall in the United States, which is a new record. The old record of nine was set in 1916. Also, four of the storms made landfall in Louisiana, Marco, Cristobal, Laura, and Delta. That ties a record set in 2002.

For the first time ever, LSU plays a football game in Missouri today. The Tigers are coming off a dominant victory over Vanderbilt, while Mizzou is 0-2 under first year coach Eliah Drinkwitz. Missouri will start a freshman quarterback today as Connor Bazelak takes over for Shawn Robinson, who was pulled last week in a loss to Tennessee. Kick-off is at 11 AM.

Louisiana Tech hosts UTEP tonight. The Bulldogs would like to get senior running back Justin Henderson going. He was a second-team All-Conference USA player last season, but this year he’s only averaging 58 yards a game.

And ULM looks for its first win today at Liberty. The Flames are 3-0.

Hurricane Delta is now Tropical Storm Delta and the center of the storm is near Monroe. The heaviest rains from Delta are now in Arkansas, Mississippi and Alabama, but northeast Louisiana is experiencing tropical storm-force winds at his hour.

There are widespread power outages. Entergy is reporting 313-thousand customers are without power. Cleco is reporting widespread outages in the Alexandria and New Iberia areas.

Delta came ashore last night as a Category Two hurricane in the town of Creole, which is located in Cameron Parish. Lake Charles reported wind speeds of 96-miles per hour. New Iberia recorded a wind speed of 90 miles per hour. The Lafayette and Opelousas areas recorded wind speeds of 75 miles per hour. Alexandria saw wind speeds at 45-miles per hour. And in Monroe, a 63-mile per hour wind gust was recorded at 1:30 this morning.

Not only is power out, but many roads are flooded from Hurricane Delta. A flash flood warning continues for Monroe, Ruston and West Monroe until 8:45 this morning. Natchitoches, Jena and Colfax are under a flash flood warning until 9 AM.

There have been some impressive rainfall totals from Delta even into Central and North Louisiana. Catahoula in Grant Parish has recorded 12 inches of rain. Jena almost ten inches, Natchitoches eight inches, and Monroe has seen over five inches of rain.

You have numerous roads closed because of flooding. The state department of transportation is reporting that I-10 West is closed on the Calcasieu River Bridge until further notice due to multiple incidents.

If you are using a generator, State Fire Marshal spokesperson Ashley Rodrigue reminds users to let the generator cool down before refueling…
cut 5 (08) “….on and active”
Rodrigue also recommends the use of carbon monoxide detectors when using generators.

Delta continues to push deeper into central Louisiana bringing hurricane-force gusts and tropical storm force winds to most of the state and Flash Flood Emergencies in at least two areas, those being central Louisiana near Alexandria and southwest Louisiana.

Rainfall totals have ended up on the higher end of the projected six to ten-inch totals and in some areas exceeded them. We’ve seen reports of up to 17 inches in some parts of the southwest and 12 inches and climbing in Alexandria. Due to this rapid accumulation of water residents from Lake Charles to Alexandria are encouraged to find higher ground specifically if they are in already low lying areas.

High speed gusts are wiping the state, and have knocked out power to 230,000 total households and climbing in the state between Entergy and Cleco combined. 7,000 linemen stand prepositioned in Louisiana to respond once the winds dissipate just before sunrise.

Delta was a category two when it made landfall in the small community of Creole in Cameron Parish around 6 PM. It became the 4^th named system to make landfall in the state this year, and the 10^th to make landfall in the US breaking a record of nine set in 1916.

The system is not weakening nearly as quickly as it was thought it would. The storm may maintain hurricane strength as it passes Alexandria and Emergency Preparedness spokesperson Mike Steele saysin the morning we will likely see a good deal of wind damage.

Cut 10 (09) “…for that”

The storm is expected to be out of the state before the sun rises tomorrow.

Hurricane Delta is down to 80 mile per hour winds as it pushes deeper into the state now sitting about 20 miles north of Jennings. The storm was projected to take a much sharper northeast turn than it has so far, with the system mostly moving north from its landing in Creole as a category two hurricane around 6 PM.

A full track for the storm is out and it looks like Delta made landfall just 12 miles to the east of where Laura did six weeks ago.

That’s bringing problems back into southwest Louisiana that many thought they had put behind them. Up to 15 inches of rain could accumulate in parts of the region by morning and a Flash Flood Emergency has been declared in SW LA. Residents are highly encouraged to seek higher ground.

171,000 Entergy customers are now without power and 75,000 Cleco customers have joined them. That number is expected to continue to rise. Power outages extend as far east as Baton Rouge where 40,000 customers are without power.

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Delta is expected to be out of our hair in Louisiana within the next ten hours. After the storm leaves though Governor Edwards asks you not to get in the way of first responders and repair crews that are out making sure the roads are safe and the powerlines are up. He says more people have lost their lives recently in the post-storm phase than mid-event…

Cut 15 (13) “sight seeing” 

More than half of those deaths were related to generator mishaps. State Fire Marshal spokesperson Ashley Rodrigue says to make sure you keep your generator at least 20 feet away from your home and don’t plug the generator directly into the home or structure, it will cause a situation of back feed and create a house fire.

Cut 4 (08) “set up like that”

107,000 Entergy households are now without power in the wake of Hurricane Delta along with 55,000 Cleco customers and that number is expected to rise as the system pushes deeper into the state.

An unexpectedly high amount of rain combined with rising rivers has officials issuing a Flash Flood Emergency in much of southwest Louisiana until 1 AM. Parts of the region already have absorbed nearly ten inches of rain with several more inches of rain possible by the end of the night. Under an emergency residents are strongly encouraged to seek higher ground.

The storm is beginning to enter central Louisiana and is on a general northeastern path out of the state. Tropical storm force winds are stretching across the Boot and Governor Edwards says just because you aren’t in the direct path doesn’t mean you won’t be getting nasty weather tonight…

Cut 14 (02) “…the track”

After Hurricane Laura, most of the fatalities that followed the storm were a result of generators. Brooke Thorington has tips on proper usage.

Cut 1 (31) “   I’m Brooke Thorington”  

Governor Edwards will be touring impacted areas Saturday once the storm has passed by helicopter to get an idea of what kind of damage the storm left. The storm is expected to be long gone from the state by sunrise.