Laura evacuees come back home to devastation
LAKE CHARLES, La. — David Miller wasn’t sure what to expect as he neared his house.
Like thousands in the path of Hurricane Laura, he had cleared out in advance of the storm that roared ashore early Thursday and tore through Lake Charles with 150-mph winds.
Miller had stopped off at a Salvation Army food truck to grab some foam containers of lunch for himself and his boys before traversing the last few blocks toward home Friday.
The once easy route had been transformed into a dangerous obstacle course of downed power lines, upended trees, and newly rising water from the steady rain.
Cars and trucks had to inch their way in a single file, often driving onto sidewalks or yards to make even the slowest of progress. Even still, sometimes there was no choice but to double back and try a different route. A little over a mile took nearly 20 minutes.
The single father — along with sons David III, 13, and William, 10, along with their dog named Bill — had fled two days before, escaping to Fort Polk as Hurricane Laura barreled closer.
“Ooooh, man,” he said, letting out a low groan, as he finally turned into the driveway. “This is something. I’ve never seen wind damage this bad.”
And at age 50, the volunteer coach for community sports teams in Ward Three said he has lived through at least five hurricanes.
His oldest son admitted out of his father’s earshot that he was a little shook by what had become of his neighborhood.
Still, on closer inspection their damage wasn’t so bad. Not like the houses nearby with roofs and exterior walls sheared off, now starting to fill with water because there was not time to get the tarps up — if they could find any.
Miller and his father had built the brick ranch-style in 1993 themselves. He lost some roof shingles, a bit of gutter, and a chunk of someone’s aluminum siding now pierced his truck tire.
With no electricity, it was hard to see much inside, but the flashlight reflected on a sheen of water that had puddled from undetermined origins. Toughest to take was the flattening of his prized garden out back where he was growing vegetables and melons to give his boys healthy food.
The future felt uncertain Friday for the family. The boys will go stay with Miller’s girlfriend in New Orleans. He planned to remain in his darkened house, living on the canned goods and bottled water he had socked away. City officials were warning residents that the water supply was probably unsafe.
But plants grow back and roofs get repaired, he figured. Blessed is what he called his family.
Before he and his sons evacuated, they decided to elicit a little extra insurance. Carefully walking every inch of the house, they paused every few steps. “We anointed every window, every door, every corner, every post in Jesus’ name,” Miller said.
“A little hedge of protection,” he said with a grin Friday.
Shattered terrain
Officials along the shattered stretch of Louisiana coast are warning returning residents they will face weeks without power or water amid the stifling days of late summer.
Lake Charles Mayor Nic Hunter cautioned there was no timetable for restoring electricity and that water-treatment plants “took a beating,” leaving barely a trickle of water coming out of most faucets.
“If you come back to Lake Charles to stay, make sure you understand the above reality and are prepared to live in it for many days, probably weeks,” Hunter wrote on Facebook.
On Broad Street in Lake Charles, an industrial and casino city of 80,000 people, many buildings had partly collapsed. Windows were blown out, awnings ripped away and trees split in eerily misshapen ways.
Police spotted a floating casino that came unmoored and hit a bridge. At the local airport, planes were overturned, some on top of each other. The mayor said it appeared virtually no area of Lake Charles escaped damage.
The U.S. toll from the Category 4 hurricane stood at 14 deaths. President Donald Trump toured the damage in Louisiana and Texas on Saturday.