SW Louisiana continues to dig out; here's how you can help
The work of recovery goes on in southwest Louisiana four days after Hurricane Laura hammered the region with 150 mph wind. Private as well as public resources are being brought to bear on power outages, water shortages, and feeding and sheltering those left homeless.
As of Monday, Gov. John Bel Edwards said:
--324,000 homes and businesses remained without power as of 3:30 p.m., Edwards said. The map at poweroutage.us put the number at 285,000 at 5 p.m.
Power in central Louisiana is being restored relatively quickly, but infrastructure damage in Cameron, Calcasieu and nearby areas means extended power outages there, Edwards said.
A virtual army of 17,000 utility linemen is at work on the outages, the governor said.
--More than 100 water systems remain offline, either because of power outages or, as a matter of more concern, damage to the water systems themselves.
--At least 14 ,000 evacuees remain in hotel rooms hired for the purpose in Louisiana and Texas.
Here are some ways you can help:
--Vitalent, the company that collects donated blood in this region, has been hit with a triple threat -- COVID-19, summertime's added demand on the blood supply and reduced donations as hurricanes Marco and Laura approached. You can give blood at the Morgan City donation center, 1234 David Drive. The hours are 9 a.m.-5 p.m. Monday through Friday.
To schedule an appointment to donate call 877-258-4825 or visit http://bloodhero.com. Holiday hours may vary. Please call 985-384-5671 to verify hours on holidays.
--The Red Cross is providing 33,000 meals a day in storm-damaged areas and will soon take over the shelter program. To give to the Red Cross, go to https://www.redcross.org/donate/donation.html/, click on the Donate Now button, and then find Hurricane Laura in the drop-down menu.
--The Baton Rouge Area Foundation is playing emergency host to the Southwest Louisiana foundation. Donations to http://foundationswla.org will go to grants in the affected area to help tide people over until federal aid becomes available, said John Spain, executive vice president of the Baton Rouge foundation.
In the 24 hours ending at 3:30 p.m. Monday, 5,000 people had donated more than $300,000. Verizon pledged another $500,000, Spain said.
Cheniere LNG has also pledged $500,000, Edwards said.
On the public sector side, nearly 6,200 Louisiana National Guard troops have distributed 1.3 million liters of water, 800,000 meals ready to eat, 100,000 bags of ice and 20,000 tarps for temporary roof repairs.`
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has been assigned by the Federal Emergency Management Agency to run the Blue Roof roof tarp program in the six parishes already declared eligible for individual assistance: Allen, Beauregard, Calcasieu, Cameron, Jefferson Davis and Vernon.
In addition to protecting property, the program will be able to make some damaged homes livable and reduce the pressure on the hotels being used as shelters, Edwards said.
People in the six parishes can register at http://www.usace.army.mil/blueroof or by calling 1-888-roofblu.
DSNAP, or expanded Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program benefits, aren't yet available in Louisiana. When they area, people in the affected areas who already received SNAP benefits -- food stamps -- will receive the extra benefits. Those who think they may be eligible should register now at http://dcfs.la.gov/dsnap.