As first responders and residents of Southwest Louisiana take stock of the damage wrought by Hurricane Laura, Louisiana Gov. John Bel Edwards said the state seems to have avoided the worst-case scenarios predicted before the Category 4 storm made landfall early Thursday morning.
With sustained winds in excess of 150 mph, Laura was among the most powerful hurricanes to ever hit Louisiana, Edwards said. But a last-minute change in the storm’s course spared the state from the “unsurvivable” 20-foot storm surge that was predicted.
Still, the storm has killed six Louisianans, left more than 600,000 homes and businesses without power, forced interstate closures, and sparked a chemical fire at a Westlake chlorine production facility, prompting shelter-in-place orders from state and local authorities.
“It’s clear that we did not sustain and suffer the absolute catastrophic damage that we thought was likely based on the forecast we had last night, but we have sustained a tremendous amount of damage,” Edwards said at a Thursday afternoon press briefing. “So, today is about saving lives, moving people out of their homes if their homes are no longer habitable.”
Thousands of local, state and federal officials have turned their attention to surveying the damage from the storm and rescuing individuals who may still be in harm’s way.
Edwards activated the entire Louisiana National Guard ahead of the storm. On Thursday, 5,400 guard members were helping with distribution of emergency supplies and COVID-19 testing, and conducting search and rescue operations.
An additional 170 agents from the Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries have joined the effort along with dozens of state and local agencies and countless private citizens.
The area directly hit by the storm saw 9 to 12 feet of storm surge — significantly less than the expected 20 feet. One caveat: some gauges in Cameron Parish failed after measuring a 12-foot surge.
The lower-than-expected surge was due in large part to the storm shifting east at the last minute, preventing its powerful southerly winds from forcing more water directly up the ship channel.
Chip Kline, chairman of the Louisiana Coastal Protection and Restoration Authority, said portions of Vermillion and Iberia Parishes will likely see rising water levels through the end of Thursday as the storm surge recedes. He urged caution to anyone in the area.
Firefighters and hazmat teams from multiple agencies are still working to extinguish the chemical fire at BioLab Inc., a facility in Westlake that produces chlorine for swimming pools.
Col. Kevin Reeves, the state police superintendent, said the company contacted the Louisiana State Police Emergency Services Unit around 10 a.m., prompting the shelter-in-place order and the multi-agency response.
During the governor's 1 p.m. press conference, State Fire Marshall Butch Browning said no chlorine gas has been detected at low levels “where people walk and where people gather.”
Some chlorine gas was released into the atmosphere, but "those chemicals are falling in the lake.”
Browning also said he is unaware of anyone in the area reporting respiratory distress, one of the most common symptoms of chlorine gas exposure.
A portion of Interstate 10 is closed because the barge holding the Isle of Capri Casino broke free of its moorings and got wedged under the interstate bridge, Gov. Edwards said in a press conference.
Shawn Wilson, head of the Louisiana Department of Transportation and Development (DOTD), said the barge has been removed and DOTD crews are inspecting the bridge. I-10 remains closed from Westlake, La., to the Texas border.
Edwards said he did not have a timeline for when service would be restored to the 600,000 homes and businesses that lost power because of the storm.
There are about 2,100 people in shelters across Louisiana, and about 1,900 of those are shelters are hotels or motels furnished by the state, the governor said. The rest are in congregate shelters with social distancing measures in place to guard against the spread of COVID.
Edwards cautioned people not to prematurely return to their damaged, possibly dangerous, homes.
“This is very much a marathon, not a sprint,” Edwards said. “It is quite often the case that it is the cleanup that causes people to seriously injure themselves… or to be killed in an accident.”
