Lake Charles is devastated and Mayor Nic Hunter warns it could be weeks before some semblance of normality returns.
Water lines are destroyed and power is down and there’s no solid estimate on when either will be functional. Mayor Nic Hunter is asking residents who return to Lake Charles to be prepared to look and leave.
“Look, secure your property, and if I were you I would get out of town. If I wasn’t the Mayor of Lake Charles and I did not have to be here I promise you I would probably be with my family out of town right now,” says Hunter.
The loss of water has led to an evacuation of patients from Memorial Hospital in Lake Charles.
Five residents have died from carbon monoxide poisoning linked to a generator in a Lake Charles home. That brings the total fatalities linked to the storm up to 10.
Gator 99.5 Lake Charles radio host Buddy Russ is there. He says at this point he’d rather have the catastrophic flood damage from Rita over what they’re seeing now.
“There are some places more south of town and those houses just look like somebody picked the roof up, move the walls to the side, and put the roof back on the ground,” says Russ.
Russ says Laura has changed the face of Lake Charles.
“Our main drag of Lake Charles is called Ryan Street and all of those buildings that I drove around to look at, those buildings are barely recognizable,” says Russ.
Russ says the area is still seeing storms and many home’s roofs are lost. At night the mosquitos swarm and come through the holes torn open by Laura, but at least a Waffle House is set to reopen today.
“If you have to come back to Lake Charles you need to be self-sufficient,” says Russ.
While residents are allowed to return home Russ warns it is not easy, or safe to move through the city due to down powerlines, transformers, polls, and pieces of houses littering the street.
“It took me about 30-45 minutes to go about three blocks from my parents’ house to go check on a neighbor’s home because you can’t get through,” says Russ.
Hunter says the city has been devastated by the strongest storm to hit the state in 150 years, but he’s optimistic that they can recover.
“It is fixable, it is rebuildable, and we are a resilient population, we are a resilient people. We have done this before, we can do it again and you know what we are going to do it better,” says Hunter.
A curfew is in effect across the city.
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