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…
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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…
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And in Ruston, Mayor Ronny Walker says they suffered a worse blow than last year’s deadly tornado…
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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.