Locals opt to ‘shelter in place’

The phrase “shelter in place” entered the mainstream lexicon in southeastern Louisiana last week as Category 1 Hurricane Isaac meandered through the state’s coastal parishes with its combination of hurricane-force winds and heavy rainfall.

Parish presidents and sheriffs confined those who decided not to evacuate to their shelters with the imposition of curfews, extended until the storm had passed and first responders had the opportunity to clear infrastructure of storm debris.

After more than 72 hours of sheltering in place through Hurricane Isaac, Hank Williams of Cocodrie finally stepped out of his home at noon on Thursday to survey the exterior damage of his home.

“I haven’t been outside since it started to rain on Tuesday,” Williams said as he picked up debris along the roadside. Two feet of water under his home prevented him from doing any clean up work in his yard. “It poured here for 48 hours straight. The rain was coming in sideways through the windows. It was almost blowing in one window and out the other. I’ve got roof damage and water in my attic, bathroom and bedroom. My bed is ruined.”

In the 10 years Williams has lived in his elevated home on the west side of Little Caillou Road, Isaac was the first hurricane to inflict water damage to his house.

“The sun is finally coming out now and that will help dry things up quicker,” Williams said. “The water has gone down a little bit, but it didn’t get over the road. Maybe if I get some of the stuff on the side of the road picked up, they will get the power on quicker. I drove the four-wheeler down the road earlier, but I got a nail in the tire.”

According to Williams, power at his home went out about 1 a.m. Tuesday and when he poked his head out of his front door shortly after, he spotted a tornado moving through the area.

“It was about as long as a telephone pole,” Williams said. “I watched it take pieces of roof off several camps.”

As Williams moved about roadside picking up boards and shingles, water sloshed in his ankle-high boots.

“When is anyone coming down here to help, at least with the power?” Williams asked. “That would be a start. None of my friends or family have been down yet. My brother is probably cleaning up at his house in Houma right now.”

Williams was far from the only local who sought refuge in his own quarters during Isaac’s two-day stay in the Tri-parish region.

Lafourche Parish suffered a steadier barrage of weather than Terrebonne, even if it wasn’t debilitating. “We were blessed,” Parish President Charlotte Randolph said three days after Isaac left the area.

Electricity problems and runoff drainage concerns loomed early this week, but most who hunkered down in Lafourche seemed to be spared major damage. The slow-moving storm elicited differing opinions of its impact versus Category-1 expectations.

Grant Boughamer, a 29-year-old Cut Off resident, rode out the storm from his south Lafourche home and “held up perfectly,” he said. “We never leave – not for the smaller storms, anyway. The storm was much worse than I thought it would be because of its snail pace. The eye was one of the most amazing hurricane eyes I’ve ever seen.”

Of course, not everyone hunkered down in their dwellings. Multiple people living in trailers evacuated their homes, even if it didn’t mean they travelled all that far.

Dawn Littleton, of Thibodaux, went to Houma to ride out the storm. “I stayed with my stepdad, Johnny Barbaree,” Littleton said. “My trailer is not hurricane material.”

Barbaree and his family were having lunch Thursday at the Pit Stop restaurant after remaining inside his home the previous two days while Isaac arrived and stalled over Terrebonne Parish.

Like many residents, Barbaree said the most difficult aspect of this storm was losing electricity, which had been off since Tuesday and not yet restored as he waited for his lunch order to arrive. “We did great,” he said. “We just would have done better if I had a generator. I’ll have one next time.”

Having had a history of hurricane seasons, Barbaree called Isaac “a squall” in comparison to Hurricane Gustav.

Hennessy Melancon, a Cut Off resident, evacuated with his camper to Ville Platte and then to the Paragon Casino in Marksville. He was back at his home on Saturday, surveying property damage and cleaning out his refrigerator.

“I evacuated because now I have a camper, so the logic is, if we stay, a flood would take both my primary and auxiliary homes,” Melancon said. “We had fence damage and food lost because of the power outage. Our family lost a few shingles and branches – nothing structural.”

Drew Legraize, 21, stayed in his trailer near the Kraemer demarcation line and fared well, except for the absence of electricity and the inconsistency of cell phones in that area, he said.

“They said it was a No. 1, so (my girlfriend and I) stayed,” said Legraize, who recalled riding out Hurricane Katrina but evacuating for Gustav during a conversation less than 100 yards away from a teetering power pole. “It wasn’t that bad.”

Melanie Kraemer, of Kraemer, also rode out the storm and said the key to sheltering in place is preparation. She and her husband stocked up on batteries, water and gasoline for their generator before the storm and, while giving the generator rest after the storm, raked foliage from their yard.

“We didn’t think it would be that bad, and it wasn’t bad, I find,” she said. “That’s the biggest thing: No communication in times of emergency.”

Bill McClure and his wife rode-out the storm at their home on Houma’s west side, until electricity was lost. “My wife is on oxygen so we had to find a (hotel) room with power,” he said. “I think this storm was worse than Gustav because it kept stopping and starting. It didn’t come straight through.”

Among businesses open on Thursday were grocery stores, where shoppers replenished supplies for a few more powerless days than what many had prepared.

“It is stressful,” Reshenda Rounds said as she exited Rouse’s on West Main Street at Martin Luther King Boulevard with her groceries. “It has been a long week. I live in Gray and we still don’t have power. We have a generator, but we need some food to last us.”

Rounds said she and her family evacuated the area for Hurricane Gustav, but thought Isaac would be milder. “It proved us wrong,” she said. “We will be glad when Isaac goes away.”

Arthur Landry cleans a drainage ditch that runs in front of his Broadmoor Avenue home. Landry didn’t sustain damage to his home, but he was one of more than 59,000 Terrebonne and Lafourche residents without power on Thursday.

ERIC BESSON | TRI-PARISH TIMES