Latest Rita Damage Assessment Update
Well- on Sunday my husband and I decided that 14 extra people living at my sister's home was too much and we decided to eliminate 6 and two large dogs and go to his mother's home in Kenner. Yes we went from a place of minimal Katrina damage to right in the middle of it all. His mother's house has one extra person displaced from KAtrina- his grandmother who lost her home in the flood in New Orleans.
On Monday my husband, oldst son. two dogs, and I headed back to Lake Charles to attempt to get into the city- by the way- when they say the Parish is closed- they mean that each exit is blocked and guarded by armed military- it was somewhat disconcerting to witness armed men at the exits- but at everyone sat at a minimum of two millitary with rifles and at least one state police officer too. Me being an RN did come in handy because after showing them my license and stating that I needed to "get back to work" we were waved on through.
We drove through town- amazed by the damage- you know the damage of wind was bad in the New Orleans area but it was the flood waters that really got everything there- in Lake charles- the wind damage was tremendous- this small city is heavily wooded- or at least it was heavily wooded- I would not be exagerating to say that at least 50% of all trees were downed in this storm- and that may be an underestimate. We were shocked to silence as we drove down the streets to our home. when we turned onto our street we realized that a neighbor's tree was down in the street along with power lines and had to drive into another neighbor's yard to get past it. But what we saw was relieving. The house was fine- there are a few shingles gone and 6 of our 10 trees are down- well 5 1/2 are down. But our large tree right in front of our house didn't even shake loose a branch (not sure how that happened since it is river birch and those things drop branches if you sneeze to hard next to it), and my large oak in the middle of the back yard had a few limbs broken but otherwise looks great (if not a little naked like all the standing trees do without their leaves). We had a large pine that broke in half probably about 40 feet up in the air- and three large pines only a little smaller than that one (but still couldn't wrap the arms around the trunks) completely up rooted. Another large old oak tree- lost the top of all the branches. And then we were given the addition of two trees from neighbors into our back yard. We have probably two feet of leaves and small branches everywhere and in and around the downed trees. All these trees that fell though- missed homes, outbuildings, and the kids playground.
We did lose about half of our patio cover attached to the back of the house- and the dogs recovered the carcuses of several squirrels as they romped around and we cleaned a small section of the yard to allow us access to the drive ways. By 10am it was well into the 90's so we headed to my mother's home.
I can't recall if I mentioned that Fox News had been broadcasting from my mother's neighborhood. They were doing so- because in town- her's looked the worse. We were really worried as we drove up and had to drive on the sidewalk to get beneath power lines and zig zag down the road to avoid trees that had fallen in the roads- this after a crew came and cleaned up a bit too. My parents had three large pines in their front yard- two were down toward the street- both uprooted- one took most of her front patio/porch with it- adding a new water feature (mom didn't find that description amusing)- They did have two trees on their home as well- both had broken midway but were smaller pines and did cause some minor damage to their roof- they also had so many trees and things in their small backyard that you couldn't walk back their easily and I have the bruises to proove it. My father's pride and joy- his workshop- took the most structural damage- and had a tree through the top of it- but luckily nothing inside was destroyed!
When my father arrived we left him to explore and went to assess my grandmother's and sister's homes- both did well- grandmother had a few things tossed about and her fence is down- but other wise nothing she couldn't clean by her 85yo self- My sister's home lost the siding/soffet on the south side eaves of her home- and a few shutters had blown down -but all trees in her yard were well away from her home- and although large still has most of her yard unaffected.
Destruction did occur though- three houses by my parents had severe damage- one neighbor had "a tree in everyroom of his home" and two others had their homes literally cut in half by large trees.
Like I mentioned before power lines are down everywhere- the transmission lines were knocked down and estimated to take a week to repair then another week to get the lines repaired to the substastations and then another week or two or three to get power restored to homes. So it may be more than a month without power longer in someareas.
The parish immediately south of us- has no buildings that are structurally sound enough to restore power too- really very sad to see the destruction to that rural community.
This has been an experience and I never want to have it again. We had to have our dog Hairy Potter put to sleep. Hairy is a large Catahoula Cur/Lab mix that we have had for 5 years. He was a great dog- our kid's protector- I know I've shared stories of him catching snakes and rats and making sure our family stayed safe from these- before. But Hairy had always been somewhat territorial and overprotective. On the evacuation trip out- he bit a man on the hand- of course the man touched my oldest daughter- and then tried to pet him- and then he tried to attack my brother in law- and then yesterday he snapped at my husband's grandmother- he actually caught her pant leg and had she not moved away as quickly as she did probably would have snapped her leg in two- I couldn't risk him doing that anymore and called animal control- hardest thing to do in my life was sign my name to the paper that was ordering his death. And I'm tearful now about it- My husband got teary putting the dog into the kennel in the truck- the animal control agent barely even got out- Hairy was happy with us- and wagging his tail- but we heard him wimpering when the guy drove off. Max our other dog woke up howling this morning looking for him...
So now we are looking into traveling elsewhere on a limited budget- just to get away. Things here in Kenner are hard- to go shopping at the local walmart- you have to wait in line for like 5 hours because they do not let but a few people in at a time. We have gone through lines where national guardsmen load our car with MRE's, ice, water and random other supplies that may be available. By the way- MRE's aren't that bad- but you can't eat a whole one- they are like 3500 calories if you eat one- that is more than you need in a day- and the kids are really enjoying them. If anyone has been in the military in the past my brother-in-law who is a retired marine was really shocked by them- they have a neat packet that you add water and it heats up to heat up the food.
Well I need to vacate the computer here- so others can get access too.
I will try to update when I can.
Thanks again for everyone's well wishes and words of support- it means a lot in this stressful time.
Julie
On Monday my husband, oldst son. two dogs, and I headed back to Lake Charles to attempt to get into the city- by the way- when they say the Parish is closed- they mean that each exit is blocked and guarded by armed military- it was somewhat disconcerting to witness armed men at the exits- but at everyone sat at a minimum of two millitary with rifles and at least one state police officer too. Me being an RN did come in handy because after showing them my license and stating that I needed to "get back to work" we were waved on through.
We drove through town- amazed by the damage- you know the damage of wind was bad in the New Orleans area but it was the flood waters that really got everything there- in Lake charles- the wind damage was tremendous- this small city is heavily wooded- or at least it was heavily wooded- I would not be exagerating to say that at least 50% of all trees were downed in this storm- and that may be an underestimate. We were shocked to silence as we drove down the streets to our home. when we turned onto our street we realized that a neighbor's tree was down in the street along with power lines and had to drive into another neighbor's yard to get past it. But what we saw was relieving. The house was fine- there are a few shingles gone and 6 of our 10 trees are down- well 5 1/2 are down. But our large tree right in front of our house didn't even shake loose a branch (not sure how that happened since it is river birch and those things drop branches if you sneeze to hard next to it), and my large oak in the middle of the back yard had a few limbs broken but otherwise looks great (if not a little naked like all the standing trees do without their leaves). We had a large pine that broke in half probably about 40 feet up in the air- and three large pines only a little smaller than that one (but still couldn't wrap the arms around the trunks) completely up rooted. Another large old oak tree- lost the top of all the branches. And then we were given the addition of two trees from neighbors into our back yard. We have probably two feet of leaves and small branches everywhere and in and around the downed trees. All these trees that fell though- missed homes, outbuildings, and the kids playground.
We did lose about half of our patio cover attached to the back of the house- and the dogs recovered the carcuses of several squirrels as they romped around and we cleaned a small section of the yard to allow us access to the drive ways. By 10am it was well into the 90's so we headed to my mother's home.
I can't recall if I mentioned that Fox News had been broadcasting from my mother's neighborhood. They were doing so- because in town- her's looked the worse. We were really worried as we drove up and had to drive on the sidewalk to get beneath power lines and zig zag down the road to avoid trees that had fallen in the roads- this after a crew came and cleaned up a bit too. My parents had three large pines in their front yard- two were down toward the street- both uprooted- one took most of her front patio/porch with it- adding a new water feature (mom didn't find that description amusing)- They did have two trees on their home as well- both had broken midway but were smaller pines and did cause some minor damage to their roof- they also had so many trees and things in their small backyard that you couldn't walk back their easily and I have the bruises to proove it. My father's pride and joy- his workshop- took the most structural damage- and had a tree through the top of it- but luckily nothing inside was destroyed!
When my father arrived we left him to explore and went to assess my grandmother's and sister's homes- both did well- grandmother had a few things tossed about and her fence is down- but other wise nothing she couldn't clean by her 85yo self- My sister's home lost the siding/soffet on the south side eaves of her home- and a few shutters had blown down -but all trees in her yard were well away from her home- and although large still has most of her yard unaffected.
Destruction did occur though- three houses by my parents had severe damage- one neighbor had "a tree in everyroom of his home" and two others had their homes literally cut in half by large trees.
Like I mentioned before power lines are down everywhere- the transmission lines were knocked down and estimated to take a week to repair then another week to get the lines repaired to the substastations and then another week or two or three to get power restored to homes. So it may be more than a month without power longer in someareas.
The parish immediately south of us- has no buildings that are structurally sound enough to restore power too- really very sad to see the destruction to that rural community.
This has been an experience and I never want to have it again. We had to have our dog Hairy Potter put to sleep. Hairy is a large Catahoula Cur/Lab mix that we have had for 5 years. He was a great dog- our kid's protector- I know I've shared stories of him catching snakes and rats and making sure our family stayed safe from these- before. But Hairy had always been somewhat territorial and overprotective. On the evacuation trip out- he bit a man on the hand- of course the man touched my oldest daughter- and then tried to pet him- and then he tried to attack my brother in law- and then yesterday he snapped at my husband's grandmother- he actually caught her pant leg and had she not moved away as quickly as she did probably would have snapped her leg in two- I couldn't risk him doing that anymore and called animal control- hardest thing to do in my life was sign my name to the paper that was ordering his death. And I'm tearful now about it- My husband got teary putting the dog into the kennel in the truck- the animal control agent barely even got out- Hairy was happy with us- and wagging his tail- but we heard him wimpering when the guy drove off. Max our other dog woke up howling this morning looking for him...
So now we are looking into traveling elsewhere on a limited budget- just to get away. Things here in Kenner are hard- to go shopping at the local walmart- you have to wait in line for like 5 hours because they do not let but a few people in at a time. We have gone through lines where national guardsmen load our car with MRE's, ice, water and random other supplies that may be available. By the way- MRE's aren't that bad- but you can't eat a whole one- they are like 3500 calories if you eat one- that is more than you need in a day- and the kids are really enjoying them. If anyone has been in the military in the past my brother-in-law who is a retired marine was really shocked by them- they have a neat packet that you add water and it heats up to heat up the food.
Well I need to vacate the computer here- so others can get access too.
I will try to update when I can.
Thanks again for everyone's well wishes and words of support- it means a lot in this stressful time.
Julie