Firsthand Rita Damage Report - Drove to Lake Charles Today

[jasons2k]

Today was quite an interesting day for me. My wife made some business calls today in Lake Charles, LA and I ride with her. We left The Woodlands area at 8:00AM this morning, and returned home this evening.

What a day, where to begin....the beginning, of course.

In our neighborhood, we were relatively lucky. Rita took a few trees down, but that was about all. We drove East on 1960 towards Liberty and Dayton. Other than some downed trees on occasion, the first real sign of something amiss occured as we drove into Liberty. My jaw almost dropped as I saw a few hundred people lined-up at a church receiving some sort of aid. I wasn't sure if it was the Red Cross or FEMA, but I did see a few Guard troops at the location. We then travelled east on Hwy. 90 towards Beamont. Strangely, we didn't see any more of this activity throughout the day.

As we drove East, the damage became steadily worse. There were more and more trees down, and several homes had blue tarps. As we headed into Beamont, it became clear the area had sustained Hurricane force winds. Store signs were blown out, billboards blown out; I was amazed. One of the worst things I saw was a mobile home completely flipped onto its side.

Next, we took I-10 East towards Lake Charles. The scenery from Beamont to Orange was very similiar. However, the scenery changed rapidly after Orange. Crossing into Lousiana, it was apparent we had crossed into where the eastern eyewall moved across. Roughly 1/2, maybe more, of all trees were down. There was a stretch of several miles where leaves were stripped from the limbs. Most every pine tree had turned brown due to blown salt spray. Locals said it was like the ocean itself was raining. Almost every house had a blue tarp. Whole sections of shingles were missing on rooftops. Windows were blown-out on storefronts. One of the most amazing things I saw was a steel billboard, the kind that has a steel post, a few feet in diamater (the real industrial huge billboards), had been blown over. The giant post was actually bent. In addition, virtually every billboard was blown-out, but the poles were intanct - unless it was wooden.

When we arrived in Lake Charles we had the opportunity to drive in some of the residential areas. All I can saw is, debris everywhere along the sides of the road. It's mostly tree damage, but just enourmous amounts of debris. Lake Charles didn't seem *quite as bad* as just to the west, but it definitely was much worse than the Texas side. As awful as the damage was in Beamont and East Texas, I observed today a much worse situation across the state line and by comparison, Texas did indeed dodge a bullet with Rita.

One lady my wife met with said all 20 trees in her yard were down. School is still out; they return Oct. 25th. Much of the worst had already been cleaned-up, but it was obvious the day after the storm, not a single road would have been passable. I just can't describe the massive amount of limbs and trees piled everywhere. There were still several businesses in Lake Charles that were closed. There was one restuarant - I couldn't even tell what it was anymore. The lighted sign by the road was blown-out (as were almost ALL lighted signs in Lake Charles), but the front and both side signs were blown-out as well, plus the awning and drive-thru signs. There were two lanterns above the front door - one intact, the other dangling. It was obviously still closed. I also saw a gas station and the entire metal canopy - one of the very large, lighted ones - was completely gone. All that remained were the two wide columns that once held it up, next to the gas pumps.

Another side-effect of Rita is the traffic. Lake Charles, for a small town, had some serious traffic problems. At one point, it took us almost 15 minutes to go 1/4 to get through one intersection. We were told it was because almost everyone south of Lake Charles (Cameron, Holly Beach, etc.) had moved-in with relatives in Lake Charles. The traffic was much heavier than normal.

We finished our appointments and headed West for home. We wanted to go to Cameron, but it's still 'closed' and roadblocked. I can't even imagine the surge on top of what I saw today in SW Louisiana. Thank goodness, most of the homes I saw were structurally intact, but in some places almost every house had a blue tarp on the roof (Vinton, Sulphur, LA area).

As we left Vinton and approached the state line and I was reflecting on the day and what I saw. It was almost numb, speechless at the damage. They are slowly recovering, but it will not be the same for a long time. It made me sad, real sad to see people's homes destroyed.

I started to remember the billboard I saw bent over earlier in the day. I was in awe of nature's power. And then, almost like a finale, I couldn't believe what I saw. There was a second, large billboard blown-over on the westbound side. But this one was different - the giant pole didn't bend. It snapped. A clean snap - like a chainsaw sliced it right in half. And the top half was laying on the ground, right next to the vertical post, sign fully intact.

[HURAKAN]

With Katrina I almost c....d in my pants, I can imagine a hurricane 40 miles stronger than Katrina was when it went over South Florida.

[ROCK]

Indeed TX did dodge some of the bullet. Still it could have been much worse if she came into Freeport as first thought. One thing for sure is this winter I will have all of my supplies, boards cut, ect for 06. Wont be caught off guard next time....

[richtrav]

I can believe it. It was actually the second time this season TX had a near-miss. I drove through northern Tamaulipas this past August, and the damage from Emily started literally just as you headed out of Matamoros. A track 30 miles farther north and Brownsville would have been roughed up pretty good. 50 miles farther north would have been a disaster for South Texas. The most impressive sights were the devastated gigantic grain warehouses, a complete twisted mess of steel rubble (fortunately that area is mostly annual crops). Those couple of southern wobbles between the Yucatan and the western Gulf coast did make a difference. Mexico has certainly had more than its share this year

[mpic]

And the after effects aren't any fun either. I have friends here from Orange. They have a huge tree in the bedroom, brick home with cracked walls and the mold is so bad that you can't breathe. They have been staying in a small RV in their driveway with a generator running, but needed a break so came here. They've been told that it could be Thanksgiving before FEMA can get to them because they are so backed up after Katrina.

[timNms]

One of the most amazing things I saw was a steel billboard, the kind that has a steel post, a few feet in diamater (the real industrial huge billboards), had been blown over. The giant post was actually bent. In addition, virtually every billboard was blown-out, but the poles were intanct - unless it was wooden.

It's amazing to see something like this, isn't it? After Katrina, there was a sign similar to this, with a steel post on each end, bent down to the ground. The beams (like those you see in metal building construction) were twisted and bent at the bottom. This was in Hattiesburg, about 90 miles inland from Gulfport!

[dhweather]

Somewhere, I've got a picture of three of these "bulletproof" industrial
steel signs broken off like twigs. It's amazing.

As Tim said, even 100 miles inland, the same wind damage took place.

[Innotech]

Ive been driving to a friends home in Eunice (about 50 miles inland) and even along that Eunice highway north from Crowley you can see turned over mobile homes, signs literally blown sideways (like taking thetwo sides of a metal sign and bending them towards each other in the direction of the wind) and one very much destroyed old house. Even that far inland and easterly there was some pretty good damage and trees down. Luckily though, theres next to nothing between Eunice and Crowley.

[southerngale]

There were still several businesses in Lake Charles that were closed. There was one restuarant - I couldn't even tell what it was anymore. The lighted sign by the road was blown-out (as were almost ALL lighted signs in Lake Charles), but the front and both side signes were blown-out as well, plus the awning and drive-thru signs. There were two lanterns above the front door - one intact, the other dangling. It was obviously still closed.

Yeah, I can relate. There's still a lot of businesses here closed. At least our 24 hour Walmart has enough employees to open from the morning until 5:30pm but there's still a lot of closed businesses, and the open ones all seem to close early. My favorite seafood restaurant is a wreck. I'm pretty sure they're locally owned and hope they can re-open, but it looks bad. The mattress store a few doors down looks worse, not quite sure of their future:






It doesn't look so good at my dad's business either:




I have family and friends homeless at the moment. My grandparents have a tree inside their bedroom, other holes in their house and the other side of it destroyed, my parents have a hole in their roof, their walls have all shifted off track or something weird like that where you can see the attic from the hall, bedrooms, etc. plus numerous other damage, costing them a small fortune. Friends and family with minor damage to can't live in their homes. I could go on and on, but somehow, I don't see how a bullet was dodged. Wouldn't a dodged bullet mean the thing missed us? I'm not sure a short trip through I-10 of Beaumont was enough to make a damage report though...it doesn't sound like you even hit the residential areas as you did in Louisiana, where you'd be met with blue roofs and debris everywhere. At least in all the places I've been, and even closer to the coast is Nederland, Port Neches, Groves, Port Arthur and various other areas who were hit hard. Not to mention my brother as far north as Jasper who still doesn't have utilities. I don't doubt it was worse just across the border, but it was devastating here as well. Since everyone I know has damage, ranging from minor to major, it's just mind-boggling for anyone to say we dodged a bullet. The eye went right over me! Dodged what? Could it have been worse? Sure. It can always be worse. However, if I get run over by a pick-up truck, I don't think I'm going to feel like I dodged a bullet because it wasn't a bus. People should think more about the terms they use IMO. I see that phrase used a lot, when it shouldn't be. No electricity for weeks - over a month now in some cases, still no cable, many without phones. Like in my parent's case, they have no phone, no cable, so no internet - she has a cell phone with limited minutes and a TV with rabbit ears trying to pick up local channels if they want to get news, information, etc.

Anyway, if you live in Houston, you may feel like you dodged a bullet. But to keep saying that Texas did, it belittles what thousands and thousands of Southeast Texans went through and are still going through. Enjoy Houston's first World Series - most of us here can't see it.

[jasons2k]

I have family and friends homeless at the moment. My grandparents have a tree inside their bedroom, other holes in their house and the other side of it destroyed, my parents have a hole in their roof, their walls have all shifted off track or something weird like that where you can see the attic from the hall, bedrooms, etc. plus numerous other damage, costing them a small fortune. Friends and family with minor damage to can't live in their homes. I could go on and on, but somehow, I don't see how a bullet was dodged. Wouldn't a dodged bullet mean the thing missed us? I'm not sure a short trip through I-10 of Beaumont was enough to make a damage report though...it doesn't sound like you even hit the residential areas as you did in Louisiana, where you'd be met with blue roofs and debris everywhere. At least in all the places I've been, and even closer to the coast is Nederland, Port Neches, Groves, Port Arthur and various other areas who were hit hard. Not to mention my brother as far north as Jasper who still doesn't have utilities. I don't doubt it was worse just across the border, but it was devastating here as well. Since everyone I know has damage, ranging from minor to major, it's just mind-boggling for anyone to say we dodged a bullet. The eye went right over me! Dodged what?

Could it have been worse? Sure. It can always be worse. However, if I get run over by a pick-up truck, I don't think I'm going to feel like I dodged a bullet because it wasn't a bus. People should think more about the terms they use IMO. I see that phrase used a lot, when it shouldn't be. No electricity for weeks - over a month now in some cases, still no cable, many without phones. Like in my parent's case, they have no phone, no cable, so no internet - she has a cell phone with limited minutes and a TV with rabbit ears trying to pick up local channels if they want to get news, information, etc.

Anyway, if you live in Houston, you may feel like you dodged a bullet. But to keep saying that Texas did, it belittles what thousands and thousands of Southeast Texans went through and are still going through. Enjoy Houston's first World Series - most of us here can't see it.

Actually we drove through the Beaumont area quite a bit as well, my wife called on some agencies there. She is in the insurance business, so she spoke to agents first-hand. The stories on the LA side were far worse.

I'm sorry if my "bullet" comment upset you, but taken in context I said :"As awful as the damage was in Beamont and East Texas, I observed today a much worse situation across the state line and by comparison, Texas did indeed dodge a bullet with Rita."

Notice the emphasis on by comparison. Some of the things I saw in Beaumont and Orange were incredible, to say the least. But I'm sorry, it's just no comparison to what they got over in LA. I saw it firsthand, you can't comprehend how much worse it is unless you actually go see it.

[southerngale]

hmmm..you seem to be missing the point. I'm not trying to start a debate about who got it worse. Louisiana got the eastern side, which is typically worse. I acknowledged that when I said"I don't doubt it was worse just across the border, but it was devastating here as well". All I was saying was that you and others who have said that Texas dodged a bullet are wrong. We may be the extreme Southeast portion of Texas, and not the large metropolitan area Houston is, but we are Texas and we did get hit. Obviously you feel like you dodged a bullet, but the rest of us over here don't feel like we did. Obviously it could have been wrose (it always can), but that doesn't mean we were spared. We weren't. And it's scary to realize that many people here will not have recovered before we start it all over again next year.