Despite sustaining 200-million dollars in damages from two hurricanes, McNeese State plans to have students back on campus for the 2021 spring semester. Jeff Palermo has the story…
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Officials anticipate a majority of customers will have their power back in southeast Louisiana by the end of the weekend but some areas might still be out through Tuesday. Matt Doyle has the story.
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McNeese State plans on students returning to campus for the 2021 spring semester. President Daryl Burckel says Hurricane Laura alone produced 77-million dollars in damages to the academic portion of the campus and multiple contractors have been hired so at least 30-percent of classes will be face-to-face instruction in January…
Burckel says the speed in recovery is vital because their budget is based on student tuition. McNeese’s enrollment is around seven-thousand and Burckel says despite two hurricanes the school’s enrollment is only down 225 students from the Fall of 2019. He says as they rebuild the campus, student housing is a top priority
Total damage to the entire university when you also combine water damage from Hurricane Delta is 200-million dollars.
Burkel says students, faculty, and alumni can keep track of the rebuild process by visiting come-home-cowboys-dot-com
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When residents are picking up the pieces after a hurricane, “storm chasers” as they are known routinely descend upon the area to take advantage of homeowners. Insurance Commissioner Jim Donelon says always get a written contract of work to be performed with a separate break out of labor cost and cost of materials.
Donelon also recommends adding to the contract that the contractor is responsible for acquiring all required permits.
Donelon says before you sign a contract, make sure they are a licensed contractor with the state licensing board for contractors and check with the Better Business Bureau.
Donelon also recommends asking the contractor’s insurance carrier to mail a certificate of coverage directly to you.
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Louisiana’s congressional delegation request for a 100-percent Federal Cost Share of debris removal from Hurricane Laura receives approval from President Trump. Senator Bill Cassidy says both COVID and two hurricanes have exhausted several communities with recovery efforts. Cassidy says this is great financial news for those areas devasted by Laura.
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The 100 percent of federal cost-share will last for a continuous period of 30 days. Before the request was amended by Congressional members, cities and parishes were required to pay 25-percent of debris removal.
Cassidy says this will take the burden off local communities.
The Department of Transportation and its contractors alone have removed more than 1.4 million cubic yards of debris.
Cassidy says this isn’t the first time Trump has approved a 100-percent cost share, it was approved in 2018 for Hurricane Michael and it prompted their request for the same for Louisiana.
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Officials are optimistic that the power won’t be out for much longer in southeast Louisiana for most customers.
Entergy CEO Phillip May says crews have been working around the clock and they now have a good estimation as to when you should have your lights back on…
328,000 Entergy customers remain without power (12PM).
May says Zeta delivered heavy wind damage in many places but thankfully didn’t damage core pieces of the Entergy grid. That being said…
May estimates 90 percent of customers will be on within the week.
Governor Edwards says Election Day is Tuesday and it appears likely some polling stations in the southeast will be without power…
Edwards says they are working to identify every polling station that will not be in service Tuesday so they have an opportunity to select alternate locations…
Edwards expects they will have an answer to which stations are viable by sometime Saturday.