Hurricane Laura - Texas

[Lineman North Florida]

I have cousins that live just north of Vinton. Thank you for coming help out.

You guys could not imagine what's going on down here right now. Every available hotel room within 100 miles is filled with workers here to rebuild.

Every morning Interstate 10 traffic is bumper to bumper going into the Lake Charles area, and every afternoon, it is bumper to bumper coming out of the Lake Charles area.

Every time I get on I-10 or I-49, I see many trucks loaded with utility poles, generators, skid steers, building supplies, water, etc. headed towards Lake Charles. Yesterday morning I had a little work to do at Northwestern State University in Natchitoches, LA. which is about 160 miles north of where I live. Hurricane Laura went right through that area. There were about 40 utility truck in the parking lot when I arrived just before 7am. A few minutes later, 2 large buses arrived and the drivers all got in their trucks and went to work. There were several large fuel trucks there too. I think they fueled up the utility truck during the night.

All gas stations and grocery stores in my area are extremely busy. There is nothing available in the Lake Charles area. And, someone has to feed all these workers.

It is really amazing to see all this happening.

We are staying in Opelosus and it takes an hour an 45 minutes in the morning to get to Vinton, but it takes 2 hrs and 45 minutes at night to get back. Is I-10 usually this bad? We leave at 5:00 every morning, but that afternoon crawl is terrible.

 

[ruffdog]

How are the people doing on getting power back on? Is the power outage still wide spread?

 

[Complete Turf Care]

We are staying in Opelosus and it takes an hour an 45 minutes in the morning to get to Vinton, but it takes 2 hrs and 45 minutes at night to get back. Is I-10 usually this bad? We leave at 5:00 every morning, but that afternoon crawl is terrible.

It is not usually that bad. You may want to consider taking US 190 back to Opelousas in the evening. But it probably won't be much better. I live in Rayne, so you pass through my town. If you need anything while here, let me know.

 

[Complete Turf Care]

How are the people doing on getting power back on? Is the power outage still wide spread?

They are making great progress, but the outage is still very wide spread, especially in Lake Charles and surrounding areas. One of the utility companies said it like this.

"It's not a matter of repairing the grid, it's rebuilding the grid from scratch." I expect some areas will be out of power for another month or more.

 

[Lineman North Florida]

It is not usually that bad. You may want to consider taking US 190 back to Opelousas in the evening. But it probably won't be much better. I live in Rayne, so you pass through my town. If you need anything while here, let me know.

Took that very route this afternoon and it cut 45 minutes off of our trip , we stayed steady moving instead of crawling at a snails pace for 50 or so miles on I-10. Under different circumstances I would try to meet you and introduce myself but it probably won't work out this trip.

 

[Complete Turf Care]

Took that very route this afternoon and it cut 45 minutes off of our trip , we stayed steady moving instead of crawling at a snails pace for 50 or so miles on I-10. Under different circumstances I would try to meet you and introduce myself but it probably won't work out this trip.

Glad you saved some time. And I really appreciate what you guys are doing here. I know you are sacrificing a lot to help around here. I sure hope you are being treated well here as our guests.

 

[Lineman North Florida]

Glad you saved some time. And I really appreciate what you guys are doing here. I know you are sacrificing a lot to help around here. I sure hope you are being treated well here as our guests.

I have always been treated good since I started coming over here for hurricanes back in 2005 , you all are some of the friendliest folks that we have ever come to help, we have a good relationship with some other lineman from Lafayette as they have come down to help us several times as well , works out really good when we know all we have to do is make a phone call and within 24 hours we will be headed to help whoever is in the path of the storm.

 

[ultrarunner]

Bless you... neighbors helping neighbors.

 

[ovrszd]

I have 3 Grandsons working on Storming Truck Crews down there now. I'll post any pics they send me.

 

[Complete Turf Care]

There are thousands of people down here from all around the country helping out in so many ways. And there are thousands more people from all around the world helping by sending supplies, food, money and prayers. And we need all of it. Not me, but thousands of people who lost everything.

Not one of the people helping out down here, has asked the color of someones skin, or who they will vote for, before they help those in need. This is the real America and Louisiana that I see and live in every day. It is not what I see on the news everyday.

I am so very proud to live in Louisiana, and America, because I see people helping each other every day, no matter who they are.

It is very sad to see the devastation caused by Hurricane Laura, but it is also very satisfying to see so many people helping those in need right now.