Hurricane Laura is gone. Lake Charles won’t soon forget.
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 9 ก.พ. 2025
- Residents of Lake Charles, La. described what it was like as Hurricane Laura tore through their city on Aug. 27, and vowed to rebuild. Read more: wapo.st/3hIQn5G. Subscribe to The Washington Post on TH-cam: wapo.st/2QOdcqK
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I was stationed at lake charles Air Force base in 1957. That hurricane chased of 50,000 troops an all aircraft. A few of us had to stay behind. That hurricane completely wiped the town of Cameron off the map. Many dead bodies were stacked in private garages iced down. In Lake Charles. Lake Charles air force base had two air refueling squadrons. The 68th and 44th. I will never forget that experience. I am 83 now. I was a radio operator on the aircraft.
That was Audrey I believe. My grandparents would always talk about it
It’s been two years & we’re still recovering from the storm. Lake Charles still looks like a ghost town & people are still rebuilding their homes. We evacuated to Dallas a few days before Laura made landfall. It was the most stressful & worst year of my life. My dog passed away weeks before the pandemic started & when it started I couldn’t go to work for a couple of weeks. Then when I went back to work I got depressed bc I worked at our vet’s office & it was the last place I saw my dog before they had to put him down & last time I worked there was the day before we decided to evacuate. After Laura I was out of work for 6 months & I was staying w/ my dad in his camper & I kept running out of my medication. The worst time of my life
Being a Katrina survivor...YOU will BOUNCE back and RIP to the ones who lost their lives to Laura. I'm praying for everyone.
Imagine seeing your house torn to unlivable conditions, now you and your children are frigged. These people still find positivity in all of this.
Those can all be replaced but you still have your life to live!
Maybe you should just
I stayed for every hurricane that has been through Lake Charles and Laura made Rita, as bad as it was, feel like a bad storm.
I am lucky to have a home that doesn't get a lot of damage from hurricanes. I lost almost all my shingles, had a few windows break and a couple of pieces of ceiling fall down from water damage.
One of my neighbors had their roof and part of their second story collapse. I lost count on the amount of homes I saw with no roofs or only partial roofs.
Power lines were down all over town. I had to get out of my truck and move limbs to be able to get to my brothers house on the other side of the city.
I was lucky to have a brother in Houston let me stay at his place until power was restored.
I worked offshore in the Gulf of Mexico and have been through several storms with winds in the Cat 4-5 strength and Hurricane Laura was scarier than those.
God help these people please I pray
I was on a storm duty crew to assess the damage to telephone poles from Laura, we were some of the first people to come from outside of Lake Charles to help, we stayed in Lafayette the night of the storm (my birthday) and we're delayed by a day getting into lake charles because of the plant being on fire and a boat blocking i-10... Crazy times. I love Lake Charles, one of my favorite Louisiana cities. They gone be alright. The shake back is real.
My heart goes out to every one of these people.
Where to start when you come back home and see this. Those people are in a state of shock. They’re completely stunned.
I can not even imagine.
This kind of destruction, these natural disasters.. this could be any of us.
Not really, only people in risk zones.
Lake Charles resident here replying 2 yrs later. Thank you for your kind comment! Things are looking back to normal now, although you still see the scars on some buildings and things, but it’s a huge improvement compared to a year ago. we have taken it step by step day by day, I remember days and weeks and even the day after the storm.. it looked like a bomb went off, destruction everywhere. But we pulled through! I know as more years come and go that Lake Charles will be 100% healed
3 years later and we still haven’t recovered completely
Category 4-5 is when it gets the most dangerous.
Yep Louisiana is 2 hours away from me. I'm in Kirbyville bet ya know that town. State had to cut trees that were hanging down on the power lines.
@@Rabeon Stay safe 🙏
@@alexg2083 I did hear electrical explosions near me in my sleep HOW DID I NOT WAKE UP THE WIND WAS BASHING ON THE SIDE OF MY HOUSE IM SLEEPING ON!
@@alexg2083 it was only 2 in a half days for them to get the electricity to work again though they lost their main transmission. Some problems during the time but it's good now.
@@Rabeon Thats crazy, but I'm glad all is well now. Powerlines are the most dangerous thing in a hurricane just got to be careful. I'm used to it because I live in Florida lol.
Sending you love and best wishes from Pennsylvania.
Yo sobreviví el Huracan María, Category 4-5 !!! IM HERE. One year without power, without water, without medical services and many more.
Awful..looks like laura is andrew's younger sister..prayers for all effected.🙏
i hope you get the help our country can offer.
As a Louisiana resident, my heart goes out to Lake Charles and the surrounding affected area, I hope the Red Cross and FEMA come to help asap, I hope my small donation helps someone somewhere there and it's sad but tRump wont lift a finger to help, he hasn't for south Texas from Hanna, Hawaii from Douglas, the east coast from Isaies, nor Puerto Rico and the Islands from Maria. Only us whom are empathetic can help
God bless Lake Charles, Louisiana.
Thought it would be much worse. They got off lucky. We need to see what Cameron looks like
Sending You All Prayers
Can we please keep comment sections from being political. The way I see it as an devastating weather event just happened and we need to focus on putting peices together not pulling them apart. Making stuff political pulls this apart. (Most comments I've seen are political)
This is all Trump's fault! 🤓
@@lonlonjptheking5845 I SAID KEEP IT NON POLITICAL
@@lonlonjptheking5845you’re very crass
It's hot and sticky there. 2 weeks with no a/c and refrigeration- Godspeed La. residents
The Black guy sounds like James Brown. Praying for all
Hes hispanic
RIP to everyone who lost their lives... please help these people.
2 Chronicles 7:14
[14]If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land.
Great job guys you inspired me to start my channel
Dam that tik Tok commercial tho
How do people recover from this? And when they do there is nothing stopping another hurricane from coming next year and ruining all their work.
Our resilience in lake Charles is unparalleled to any other city. We were there the next day building fences.
Why don’t they build concrete houses instead of ones made from wood?
I know it’s probably way more expensive but wouldn’t it save money and people’s lives in the long run if the state would support that
Or just don't live where weather like this can happen . It's like tornado Ally, you live in it and your house isn't there anymore don't act like a victim. Just move where it's always safe from bad weather.
300 million people move to areas where mother nature won’t harm you. That would lead to higher living costs on everyone in that area. Imagine a town of 1000 people having it’s population swell to 3000, 6000, 9000, 12000 + residents within less than a year.
@@chm2511 yeah, I'm sure all of these poor people can just move. And if everyone moved away from every wheather vulnerable area i'm sure it would be fine.
A Hurricane hit New York City 5 years ago remember Sandy None of these people had a catastrophe like this in a 150 years so what you are saying may not make sense and is just a knee jerk response where were you in 69 when Gulfport Mississippi was struck by Camille a storm that packed 228 mph winds and left more devastation than this . Go look at Gulfport today no major storms hit there in 50 years though Katarina ran right by the side of it . You just have to evacuate when the storm comes and when you return reuild if you can
Why are they rebuilding on the same coastline that gets hammered by hurricanes every year? Why not just move north and let the coast be full of big concrete military bunkers? What are the odds of this not happening again within ten years?
Louisiana has the biggest Inland river trading port running through it. Do you understand Economics?
When you grow up in a certain place with certain people. Sometimes you don’t want to leave. Or some people might not have the money to leave. Like it said. The state pays for damages. You could also say the same for Oklahoma, Nebraska, Kansas, etc when they get hammered by tornados every year but a lot of that land is used for farming so would we just run out of food?
I live on st George island Florida and we haven’t got hit by a devastating hurricane in over 50 years. Cat 5 hurricane Michael hit 30 miles west of us and devastated that area but it’s already recovering and it hasn’t even been 2 years. The radius of destruction only extends about 5-10 miles from the center. Stop listening to the media
Everybody don’t have the money to just up and move. If you don’t have money to evacuate and you living pay check to pay check and off government assistance then you pretty much have no choice but to deal with it. Even if you have family somewhere else that’s not really affected by this type of stuff they don’t want you living with them or even lend out a helping hand because they have their own problems they dealing with. It’s tough out here.
Hurricanes can and do occur anywhere along the east.east and gulf coasts and inland also. But yes they need to build hurricane strength structures. But,even then depends on the strength of the storm and area hit
Sending prayers for everyone. May each family find rest in the Lord during these trials and tribulations. God is with Us.
i'd leave, another hurricane will come
Thank Goodness it’s been almost 4 yrs and still no hurricane. It took 15 yrs after Rita for Laura to come
Be ready trump is heading that why to get your VOTE and shows he "cares". He will be throwing paper towels
You're an imbecile.
thank god home insurance saves those
Y'all. Lake Charles is good, God-fearing people
lake charles off the map
I lived in Jessie James trailer park and every single one of our homes are gone it’s still feel unreal to me😓 I’m bout to be homeless with a 1 year old
Tragic. However, if you had the means to leave and you did not then I feel very little sympathy for you.
And we still didn't get any money.
my family is from there and it’s still a disaster zone lol
**CHANGING OIL PRICES, U.S.A. INSURANCES CO. , RECOVER EVERYTHING. // SAME THING EVERY YEAR HURRICANES SEASON**
I was there when it hit as living in moss bluff la
Hey guys the storm was scary but! I stay in southern hills and when I was sleeping I heard lots of bumping -_-
Why do we live in these areas to begin with???
Lake Charles didnt go thru ike and Gustav
Not true At ALL
@@quinnpharr9200 ur right
Ike storm surge was worse than Ritas
Gustav did minimal damage
That sure is terrible, and that one guy that thinks it is a blessing because everyone gets a new house, or a new roof, I am not sure what fantasy land he lives in, but I believe he might not be in touch with reality.
I cant feel bad when u keep rebuilding in places that mother nature does what she does over and over.
🧐🧐🧐
No matter where u live she will find you
This is the forgotten storm. Thank Goodness I had USAA insurance. They made life as comfortable as possible. But the government did us bad. I know many people that had to pay back fema. People that had nothing. It’s sad
How come they didn’t have any masks on
I think it's safe to say that Laura was a violent protester.
we need help!...... so does everyone buddy. Stop relying on the govt and do for self
@gerry he's a stupid one at that.
All life on Earth is quickly coming to an END due to the Ozone Layer ( blue sky ) Depletion.
Stop building houses made of friggin wood in this area. Much less would happen if you would use stone and concrete.
Yeah let's just tear down our house and make a new one outta concrete super easy just like that 🇺🇲
That's the equivalent of telling someone that can only afford a mobile home to build a mansion.
Japan houses are built out of friggin wood. Many that were built 200 years ago are still standing today. I wonder why no one thought of using stone and concrete since it so easy. 🙄🙄
@@arturoangel3834 the wood roof would still blow off
Really shouldn't build in this area. It's too dangerous.
Oh ok I see port Arthur no one gives a f but lake Charles they do
The Lord Jesus wants us to come together as one. The man speaks the truth.
LET'S SEE HOW LONG IT IS GOING TO TAKE FOR DONALD DUCK TO PAY ATTENTION TO LOUISIANA
He’s literally going to visit on the weekend.
@@xavierdomenico VISIT. ?
@@khanwashere264 You know... survey the damage, meet with families, do his presidential duties....
@@xavierdomenico HA HA HA ,
YOU NEED TO SEE A POLITICAL DOCTOR,
SO HE IR SHE CAN GET IF YOUR DUCK FEVER
@@khanwashere264 um anyways...
Democrats to the rescue? Probably not.
Oh? Yes I remember the stunning job Democrat president Bush did when Kat hit Orleans back in 05. He totally neglected them all.
First of all "worser" is not a word, second I'm sorry you had that bad storm but y'all was told to evacuate and you didn't.
Let’s be real lake Charles was never on the map
Does not matter, people still live here.
Crow lemme play a sad song for you bruh
Trevor Johnson Awh such a caring guy what did you do to help the people affected ?
Not true last time I checked my family and wife’s family are born and raised here. Also Casino doofus ha
It's like they look for the weirdos to put on tv.
Yeah they went threw here and found the "best" people for tv
WaPo, aka Jeff's Hobby.
Rockinghorse Winner
Maybe for Jeff, but not for the people that work there
I don’t get what the panic is about, this is obviously a peaceful hurricane
Yeah but you weren’t there. Trust me it was the opposite of peaceful. That’s an ignorant thing to say by the way.
Trump2020
MAGA Pawn...
Letter Q sent me it’s the 17th letter in the alphabet it’s all counter intelligence moves Trust the Plan!!! What a CULT LMAO YOU FOOLS HR WILL TURN ON YOU JUST WAIT AND SEE!!!!
Wow no way