Repairs set to begin in Lafourche

There’s the before … then there’s the after.

It may be good for home makeovers, but when it comes to hurricanes, not so much.

After Hurricane Gustav ripped through the Tri-parish area, the face of area high school athletics was temporarily changed.

Besides the first two games of the high school football season being cancelled for most schools in the area, Hurricane Gustav altered things in another way for schools in Lafourche Parish.

Several area high schools received extensive damage to athletic facilities while others were spared.

Perhaps the hardest hit area was the gymnasium at E.D. White Catholic High School.

Roof damage caused water to seep in, causing the gym floor to buckle in a wave-like effect.

The locker room and stage area also received water from the leak.

Directly impacted by the damage are the Lady Cardinals volleyball team, who call the gym home during the fall months.

Principal David Boudreaux reported work is currently underway pulling up the floor to replace it, but the Lady Cardinals must find a temporary home at either Nicholls or the Warren Harang Municipal Auditorium until it’s ready.

Fortunately for the Cardinals, the gym was the gist of the damage and no other athletic facilities received extensive damage.

The football scoreboard, softball concession stand, baseball sponsor signs concessions stand and storage facility all received minor damage.

However, mold was found across the school campus, so now there is no time frame as to when school can restart once again.

Thibodaux High

Just across town at Thibodaux High School, the Tigers’ baseball softball fields and a portion of the football press box received damage.

The baseball field’s fence was knocked over and pieces of the center field wall went missing. The scoreboard was also nearly knocked over the outfield fence and foul posts were bent.

On the softball side, the dugouts received severe roof damage and part of the fence was leaning.

The football press box received minor damage to the exterior portion of the roof, school officials said.

Central Lafourche

Central Lafourche was overall spared with the exception of the visitors’ dugout at the baseball field, which was destroyed.

“Luckily baseball season isn’t for another four months,” Floyd Benoit, spokesperson for the Lafourche Parish School Board said. “We don’t have a time frame as to when everything will be repaired, but I’m sure it’ll be before the seasons start.”

South Lafourche

In Galliano, one of the hardest hit areas of the storm, South Lafourche Athletic Director Brian Callais reported that the school’s football stadium, baseball field, softball field and gym all received some sort of damage.

The external roof of the press box was gone and a window was broken.

The concession stand storage fence under the home side of the stadium also received damage.

Light poles were pulled down at the baseball field and wires were left dangling from lights at the Lady Tarpons softball field.

The majority of the damage was to the main gymnasium. Gustav destroyed the skylights, causing water to enter the gym.

However, the floor wasn’t damaged.

Overall, Benoit said the school board is extremely grateful that none of the athletic facilities received significant damage.

“We’re pleased with the way everything held up,” Benoit said. “We don’t have to replace any gym floors which can be a mess. We’ll take the damage we have. We can replace fences and dugouts. And if we need to, we can play sports without a scoreboard. It could have been a lot worst.”

Nicholls State University

At nearby Nicholls State, the baseball field, softball field, and football field all received damage.

Athletics Director Rob Bernardi reported that the softball field lost its scoreboard, the baseball field lost most of its outfield wall and the football stadium lights became wobbly and will have to be taken down due to safety.

The press box also lost its air conditioner as well.

The damage to the lights at John L. Guidry Stadium has already made an impact on the sports schedule.

The Colonels’ home opener against Bowie State slated for this past Saturday had to be cancelled and all games will now have day start times to accommodate the light removal.

“It’s been determined that they are probably aren’t safe to be up there right now, so that’ll happen within the next couple of weeks,” Bernardi said. “We’ll have to look at changing our game times to afternoon games to accommodate losing the lights.”

Bernardi said assessing the damage takes time but things are already underway.

“The University has to file insurance claims. I think at this point what they are doing is gathering all of the information about the facilities and assessing what the damage is,” he explained. “I don’t know what the process is, but I think it’s filed through the state. It’s just a matter of assessing the damage at this point. We don’t know too much right now.”

In addition to the fields, the home of Nicholls athletics, Barker Hall, also had minor roof damage around the weight room. Despite the damage, the building is still inhabitable and usable.

“Why folks built a flat room on a building in South Louisiana is beyond me but they did. It’s still habitable. It’s just minor damage.”

The overall costs for the damage is unknown until everything is completely assessed within the next couple of weeks because the University is doing its own assessment of the damage received to the other facilities as well.

“We won’t know until then,” Bernardi said.

All in all, there is no timetable for any of the facility damage in the area to be repaired.

Nicholls expects to have its baseball and softball fields operational before the start of those seasons and the four high schools all expect work to begin soon on their damages.

The scoreboard and outfield fence at Thibodaux High’s baseball field received damage following Hurricane Gustav. The athletics facilities in Lafourche Parish survived without major damage with the exception of E.D. White’s basketball court. * Photo by KYLE CARRIER