Nine months after two back-to-back hurricanes hammered their towns, scores of coastal Louisiana residents are still struggling to recover.

– As southwest Louisiana recovers from the back-to-back hurricanes that hammered the region this year, signs of progress compete with lingering evidence of mass destruction. Hurricane Laura roared ashore in southwestern Louisiana on Aug. 27 as a Category 4 storm just south of Lake Charles. According to Louisiana government figures, nearly 47,000 homes were damaged by Hurricane Laura, with about 16,000 of those in need of major repairs. The bulk of those homes are in Calcasieu Parish, home to the state's fifth-largest city, Lake Charles, with 80,000 residents. A Facebook group set up after Hurricane Laura has become a lifeline for struggling residents.

Blue tarps cover houses in the aftermath of Hurricane Delta, Saturday Oct. 10, 2020, in Iowa, La. – Michele Vincent’s home was largely intact in spite of hurricanes Laura and Delta. Coastal Cameron Parish had about 9,800 residents when Hurricane Rita hit in 2005. “Leave Cameron Parish and go into Calcasieu it's bad there too. They were the only red lights we had in Cameron Parish.

A 70-year-old woman in Iberia Parish died in a fire likely caused by a natural gas leak following damage from Hurricane Delta, the Louisiana Department of Health said Sunday. Clair Hebert Marceaux lost her home in Cameron Parish, Louisiana, during Hurricane Laura and said the community was hard at work on rebuilding when Delta struck. “We can’t lose our momentum,” she said, though she added there was “utter devastation” in the area. Earnestine and Milton Wesley had decided to ride out Delta in their Lake Charles home, damaged by Laura. “And with God’s help we made it.”After blowing ashore, Delta moved over Lake Charles, a city where Laura damaged nearly every home and building.

Delta made landfall Friday evening near the coastal Louisiana town of Creole with top winds of 100 mph (155 kph). It then moved over Lake Charles, a city where Hurricane Laura damaged nearly every home and building in late August. While Delta was a weaker storm than Category 4 Laura, it brought significantly more flooding, Lake Charles Mayor Nic Hunter said. Forecasters warned that heavy rain, storm surges and flash floods continued to pose dangers in areas from Texas to Mississippi. They arrived back in Lake Charles last weekend, got a new roof on Monday and had to evacuate again Thursday.

– Ripping tarps from already damaged roofs and scattering debris piled by roadsides, Hurricane Delta inflicted a new round of destruction on Louisiana as it struck communities still reeling after Hurricane Laura took a similar path just six weeks earlier. Delta's reach stretched as far west as Galveston, Texas, about 100 miles (160 kilometers) from where the storm struck Louisiana. Tropical Storm Marco fizzled as it hit the southeast Louisiana tip just three days before Laura struck. And Tropical Storm Cristobal caused damage in southeast Louisiana in June. “The wind is much worse than what Hurricane Laura brought,” Gove said in a message on Twitter.

Louisiana residents still recovering from the devastation of a powerful hurricane less than two months ago braced for another hit as Hurricane Delta steamed north through the Gulf on Thursday after swiping Mexicos Yucatan Peninsula. The projected path included the southwest area of Louisiana where Category 4 Hurricane Laura made landfall less than two months ago. Randazzo watched pieces of one of his restaurants, Panorama Music House, fly past a meteorologist’s car on a Facebook Live video during Hurricane Laura. The most recent forecast for Hurricane Delta has the storm making landfall “almost precisely” where Hurricane Laura struck — a region where homes and electrical infrastructure are still damaged, Edwards said in a radio interview. New Orleans, well to the east of the projected landfall area, was expected to escape the worst of Hurricane Delta.

The projected path included the southwest area of Louisiana where Category 4 Hurricane Laura made landfall less than two months ago. Boarded windows and largely empty streets made New Iberia in south-central Louisiana look like a ghost town Thursday evening. Randazzo watched pieces of one of his restaurants, Panorama Music House, fly past a meteorologist’s car on a Facebook Live video during Hurricane Laura. The most recent forecast for Hurricane Delta has the storm making landfall “almost precisely” where Hurricane Laura struck — a region where homes and electrical infrastructure are still damaged, Edwards said in a radio interview. New Orleans, well to the east of the projected landfall area, was expected to escape the worst of Hurricane Delta.

The storm being watched Wednesday was Hurricane Delta, the 25th named storm of the Atlantic's unprecedented hurricane season. Forecasts placed most of Louisiana within Delta's path, with the latest National Hurricane Center estimating landfall in the state on Friday. Along with getting hit by Hurricane Laura and escaping Hurricane Sally, Louisiana saw heavy flooding June 7 from Tropical Storm Cristobal. Tropical Storm Beta prompted tropical storm warnings in mid-September as it slowly crawled up the northeast Texas coast. “Not seeing any signs of any additional tropical weather in the extended which is OK with us because we are SO DONE with Hurricane Season 2020,” they wrote.

HOUSTON – As Tropical Storm Beta neared the Texas coast Monday, the biggest unknown was how much rainfall it could produce in areas that have already seen their share of damaging weather during a busy hurricane season. Rain from Beta was already coming down Monday in the Houston area. Earlier predictions of up to 20 inches (51 centimeters) in some areas were downgraded Monday to up to 15 inches (38 centimeters). Forecasters and officials reassured residents Beta was not expected to be another Hurricane Harvey or Tropical Storm Imelda. Harvey in 2017 dumped more than 50 inches (127 centimeters) of rain on Houston, causing $125 billion in damage in Texas.

Forecasters said Beta was not expected to bring the same amount of rainfall that Texas experienced during either Hurricane Harvey in 2017 or Tropical Storm Imelda last year. The first rain bands from Beta reached the Texas coast on Sunday, but the heaviest rain wasn't expected to arrive until Monday into Tuesday. If the system makes landfall in Texas, it would be the ninth named storm to make landfall in the continental U.S. in 2020. A tropical storm warning was in effect for Bermuda. Wilfred, which had been a tropical storm, weakened to a tropical depression earlier Sunday.

NEW ORLEANS Hurricane Laura caused significant damage at a site holding about 30% of the nations store of emergency crude oil, but three other sites still have plenty of petroleum, U.S. Energy Secretary Dan Brouillette said Wednesday. The damaged Strategic Petroleum Reserve site in West Hackberry, Louisiana, holds nearly 8.2 billion gallons (31 billion liters) of crude oil in 21 huge caverns deep underground. Two sites in Louisiana and two in Texas currently hold about 27.2 billion gallons (103 billion liters) of crude. The oil is held in caverns hollowed out of salt domes mountainous salt deposits that are almost entirely underground. Together, they can hold nearly 30 billion gallons (113.6 billion liters) of oil.

Some key takeaways of the immediate analysis of Laura's effects have emerged:IT WILL TAKE MONTHS TO KNOW EFFECTS:Scientists say some coastal impact from Hurricane Laura is inevitable. Bren Haase, who heads the states Coastal Protection and Restoration Authority, said the eastern Cameron shoreline got pounded pretty hard." SALINITY'S A PROBLEMAnother question is how long storm surge waters sit before eventually draining away. Laura took a slight jog to the East just before making landfall which probably prevented some of the worst storm surge from pushing all the way into Lake Charles. This might be in part because the storm blew through so quickly and the storm surge was so high that it simply rode over the marshes, rather than tearing them up.

Layla Winbush walks over the debris of her family's destroyed auto detailing business in Lake Charles, La., in the aftermath of Hurricane Laura, Sunday, Aug. 30, 2020. Federal and state officials are now on the ground to help residents with home repairs and hotel stays. The Federal Emergency Management Agency sent hundreds of workers to the region to help with search and rescue and other efforts. Many people in Lake Charles were still staying outside town, but James Townley said he would remain in his home, as he did during the storm. They have requested help from FEMA, but Lavergne said she didn't have a checking account in which to receive federal money.

Bradley Beard calls Hurricane Laura his third strike. This is all I got.Across Cameron Parish, the coastal parish where Hurricane Laura crashed ashore early Thursday, residents dug through what was left of their belongings, covered now-stripped roofs with tarps, and took stock of the damage. Edwards called Laura the most powerful hurricane to strike Louisiana, a shocking assessment in a state where Hurricane Katrina made landfall on Aug. 29, 2005. Out in western Louisiana it is the storm that came ashore a month after Katrina Hurricane Rita that evokes strong memories. Her daughters insist that they stay in Cameron Parish.

Hazardous emissions from a chlorine plant fire, abruptly shuttered oil and gas refineries and still-to-be assessed plant damage are seeping into the air after Hurricane Laura, regulators say, but some key state and federal monitors to alert the public of air dangers remain offline in Louisiana. But some Louisiana residents and environmental advocates say a shortage of solid government information on the state of the air is typical. No word of any major industrial threat other than the chlorine plant fire had emerged by three days after Laura. By Saturday, EPA contractors had left the area of the chlorine plant fire, said Langley, the Louisiana environmental spokesman. ___This story has been corrected to reflect that the name of the Louisiana environmental group is the Louisiana Bucket Brigade, not The Bucket Brigades.

It was really, really bad instead of apocalyptic, Colorado State University hurricane researcher Phil Klotzbach said. Lauren Sylvester heeded the mandatory evacuation, leaving her townhouse in Lake Charles on Wednesday to stay with her mom in New Iberia. Between the evacuation order and the storm surge projections, she didnt want to take a risk. In the end, the city got maybe half the storm surge it could have received, he said. The worst storm surge is to the east of a hurricane's eyewall because of the combination of the storm's counterclockwise whirl and northward movement.

Damage is seen at South Cameron High School in Creole, La., Friday, Aug. 28, after the storm surge receded in the aftermath of Hurricane Laura. It also led to fires at a chlorine plant in Westlake in the hard-hit Lake Charles area. Simply driving was a feat in Lake Charles. Nineteen babies who weathered the hurricane at Lake Charles Memorial Hospital were brought to other hospitals across around the state. Hurricane Laura also killed nearly two dozen people in Haiti and the Dominican Republic en route to the U.S. Gulf Coast.

The hospital has its own generator and hospital administrator Alesha Alford said it was built to withstand hurricane force winds. In a roughly two-hour operation the babies in the intensive care unit were transferred by ambulance to Lake Charles Memorial Hospital, a ten-story facility on the northern side of the city. Two of them had their newborns with them while the child of the third mom was in the intensive care unit. To protect our babies, mattresses were pushed up against the windows to prevent flying glass although none of the windows ended up breaking. After making it through the hurricane, the plan was to have the babies stay in Lake Charles.

Teams help restore power in Louisiana after Hurricane Laura. If you need help with WJXT’s or WCWJ's FCC public inspection file, call (904) 393-9801.

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – The Jacksonville Community is lending a hand from utility crews and the red cross to Louisiana, Texas, Arkansas, and Mississippi after Hurricane Laura blasted through the gulf coast. American Red Cross crews left Northeast Florida Thursday. “Assessing what are the emergency needs are and what are the community needs going to be,” she said. There are many components of mental health, first aid, emergency needs, and tragedy. RELATED: Florida, Georgia utilities ready to help Gulf Coast in aftermath of stormsThe Red Cross says the Jacksonville community has already contributed monetary donations.

Flooding surrounds a damaged building and boat Friday, Aug. 28, 2020, in Cameron, La., after Hurricane Laura moved through the area Thursday. Simply driving in Lake Charles, a city of 80,000 residents that sustained some of the worst damage, was a feat. "If you come back to Lake Charles to stay, make sure you understand the above reality and are prepared to live in it for many days, probably weeks, Hunter wrote on Facebook. In the storm's wake, more than 600,000 homes and businesses were without power in Louisiana, Texas and Arkansas, according to poweroutage.us, which tracks utility reports. Ira Lyles returned to find that his downtown Lake Charles salon called The Parlor House survived with little damage, but his home was destroyed.

Hurricane Laura struck nearly the exact spot predicted by the National Hurricane Center three days out in what can be called a near perfect forecast when the average error is about 118 miles. Insight into Laura becoming a monster hurricane came two days before landfall when the NHC highlighted its potential for rapid intensification which could lead to destructive storm surge over the hot western Gulf water. While forecasters scored points for track and intensity predictions, fortunately storm surge may not have been as high as anticipated. In truth nine feet is bad enough when talking about surge which is the leading cause of hurricane deaths. and could support the dire language NHC forecasters used to convey the severity of 20 foot potential surge.

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. Having lived in Jacksonville until 2012, Traci Best is no stranger to JEA. But Best, who now lives in Louisiana, was surprised to find the utilitys crews helping restore power in her neighborhood after Hurricane Laura pounded the state. We should have left, Best said. JEAs crews left Jacksonville on Wednesday and got right to work in Louisiana as soon as the hurricane had passed. JEA sent 31 crew members and 35 pieces of equipment to Louisiana to assist Lafayette Utilities there in power restoration efforts.

John Bel Edwards said he’s received report of the first fatality from Hurricane Laura in Louisiana, a 14-year-old girl who died when a tree fell on her home in Leesburg. The governors of Louisiana and Texas say search and rescue teams are still looking, but they've found no reports so far of widespread fatalities. Greg Abbott is crediting the evacuations of thousands of people for preventing deaths in Texas. RELATED | The Latest: Laura’s feared eye destroyed homes in LouisianaBoth governors say the storm surge appears to have been not as bad as they feared. Abbott said the hurricane’s storm surge hit the east Texas communities of Port Arthur, Beaumont and Orange “pretty hard” overnight and the eye of the hurricane has continued to move about 100 miles north along the Texas-Louisiana state line.

But regardless where you’re located or what types of weather your region regularly experiences, it’s always best to remain vigilant. When it comes to hurricanes and big storms, there’s always so much talk about how to prepare the insides of our homes. Therefore, it’s always better to err on the side of caution, he added. “There’s nothing wrong with being too careful.”So, the next time a big storm’s coming to town, walk around the exterior of your house, your property or your yard. You could even turn this into a project, moving just a few belongings a day, leading up to the storm.

Latasha Myles and Howard Anderson stand in their living room where they were sitting when the roof blew off around 2:30 a.m. as Hurricane Laura passed through the area in Lake Charles, Louisiana. (Photo by Joe Raedle/Getty Images)

Latasha Myles and Howard Anderson stand in their living room where they were sitting when the roof blew off around 2:30 a.m. as Hurricane Laura passed through the area in Lake Charles, Louisiana. Powerful gusts blew out windows in tall buildings in Lake Charles, blew off roofs and took down trees and powerlines from the coast to more than 100 miles inland. Its just destruction everywhere,`` said Brett Geymann, who rode out the storm with three family members in Moss Bluff, near Lake Charles. John Bel Edwards reported Louisianas first fatality -- a 14-year-old girl who died when a tree fell on her home in Leesville, more than 100 miles inland. Scroll through the photos above to see some of the first images of damage after the sun came up Thursday.

Republicans decided the show must go on and, for the most part, television networks followed. The convention is taking place in the shadow of huge stories that are happening right now, CNN's Anderson Cooper said. Networks, after giving extensive coverage to the Democrats last week, are cognizant of being fair to the Republicans. The president has been showing up every night, the president could talk about it. But former Republican Sen. Rick Santorum, also a CNN contributor, said Republicans were there to try and reelect President Trump and that has to continue to remain their focus.

Laura came blasting ashore just east of Cameron, Louisiana, as a Category 4 hurricane with winds of 150 mph -- just 5 mph shy of a Category 5 storm. While 10 other Category 4 storms with 150 mph winds have hit the states, Laura was matched only by an 1856 hurricane for the strongest winds to ever strike Louisiana. USGS water level sensors measured a storm surge levels about half as destructive as models forecasted. Water level measured at the coast spiked around 10 feet before dawn Thursday, August 27. It took just a day over the western Gulfs warm water when rapid intensification jumped the storms 75 mph winds Tuesday to 140 mph by Wednesday afternoon.

A fire at a chemical plant, BioLab Inc., that handles chlorine for swimming pools burns on Thursday, Aug. 27, 2020, in Westlake, La., in the aftermath of Hurricane Laura. A fire at a Louisiana chlorine plant erupted with thick, billowing smoke Thursday after Hurricane Laura plowed through part of the country's petrochemical corridor with storm surges and fierce wind, forcing residents around the plant to shelter in their homes. In the Lake Charles area, Louisiana Department of Environmental Quality workers with hand-held monitors did not immediately detect chlorine releases from the fire at the BioLab plant, agency spokesman Greg Langley said. BioLabs corporate parent said the plant had been shut down and evacuated ahead of the storm, and no plant employees were injured. State environmental officials planned to survey the entire storm area from the air to look for signs of any other industry fires or leaks, Langley said.

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – Update: The hurricane is now moving northward with the initial motion estimated to be 15 mph. Laura is expected to continue moving northward through today which should take the core of the system across Louisiana and Arkansas. An Air Force Reserve hurricane hunter aircraft that is still investigating the hurricane has reported peak 700-mb flight-level winds of 156mph and SFMR winds of 139mph in the northeast eye wall. Hurricane-force winds extend outward up to 60 miles from the center and tropical-storm-force winds extend outward up to 205 miles. Tropical-storm-force winds have reached the coast of Louisiana and an observing site at Eugene Island recently measured sustained winds of 39 mph and a gust to 64 mph.

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. – A Florida emergency management search-and-rescue team is heading to Louisiana in anticipation of the landfall of Hurricane Laura. The team is expected to spend about two weeks, or however long it is needed, working after the storm, Division of Emergency Management spokesman Jason Mahon said Wednesday. The Florida Division of Emergency Management on Tuesday sent three staff members to help Mississippi set up shelters that comply with coronavirus health regulations. Florida utilities also have sent crews to help restore electricity in the region. Also, the Florida Municipal Electric Association said Wednesday that crews from public utilities in various parts of the state will help with restoration in Louisiana.

GALVESTON, Texas Forecasters Hurricane Laura is now expected to rapidly power up into a 'catastrophic' Category 4 hurricane an even stronger storm than previously expected as it churns toward Texas and Louisiana, gathering wind and water that now covers much of the Gulf of Mexico. Satellite images show that Laura has become a formidable hurricane" in recent hours, threatening to smash homes and sink entire communities. It has undergone a remarkable intensification, and there are no signs it will stop soon, with shear remaining low-to-moderate over the deep warm waters of the central Gulf of Mexico," the National Hurricane Center said in a briefing early Wednesday. Lauras maximum sustained winds have increased to near 110 mph (175 kph) with higher gusts, forecasters said early Wednesday. Homes and businesses will be damaged," said Donald Jones, a National Weather Service meteorologist in Lake Charles, Louisiana, which is near the bullseye of Laura's forecast track.

The Latest on Hurricane Laura (all times local):GALVESTON, Texas Hurricane Laura strengthened Wednesday into an extremely dangerous Category 4 hurricane," The National Hurricane Center said. Forecasters warn of catastrophic storm surge, extreme winds and flash flooding" and 20 feet (6 meters) of storm surge. Tropical storm winds Wednesday afternoon reached the coast of Louisiana where water levels started to rise. Laura is predicted to reach at least 145 mph (233 kph) winds, but may weaken ever so slightly before landfall. -GALVESTON, Texas Texas Gov.

Victoria Nelson with her children Autum Nelson, 2, Shawn Nelson, 7, and Asia Nelson, 6, line up to board a bus to evacuate Lake Charles, La., Wednesday, Aug. 26, 2020, ahead of Hurricane Laura. Laura strengthened Wednesday into a menacing Category 4 hurricane, raising fears of a 20-foot storm surge that forecasters said would be "unsurvivable and capable of sinking entire communities. Authorities implored coastal residents of Texas and Louisiana to evacuate and worried that not enough had fled. Storm surge warnings were in effect from Freeport, Texas, to the mouth of the Mississippi River. Forecasters said storm surge topped by waves could submerge entire towns.

Oil and gas producers have evacuated platforms and rigs in the Gulf of Mexico and companies are shutting down refineries in the storm's path. At the same time, OPEC was flooding the market with crude, aiming with success to put American oil producers out of business. This year, 60 oil and gas companies filed for bankruptcy protection, according to law firm Haynes and Boone. Producers shut in 84% of the oil produced in the region, taking about 1.6 million barrels per day off the market. In 2017, Hurricane Harvey stalled over Houston, dumping so much rain that flooding knocked out nearly a quarter of the nations refining capacity.

Greg Abbott said the state had 200,000 hotel rooms for evacuees. Her home took on water during Hurricane Rita, which ravaged the Gulf Coast just days after Hurricane Katrina in 2005. Leaders in both Texas and Louisiana urged residents to flee in the final hours before landfall made it too dangerous to travel. Kidd said the convention center in Austin might be opened to temporarily house evacuees while more hotel rooms are set up for residents. He said hotel rooms are being reserved for evacuees in some nearby counties.

In Louisiana, more than 800 residents in 11 nursing homes were also evacuated, according to the state health department. Ron Payne, CEO of Southwest LTC, which runs nursing homes across Texas, has been through multiple storm evacuations over the years. Hurricane Laura is due to hit Texas as its long-term care homes have already been on edge in an unprecedented lockdown to try and keep further virus outbreaks from arising. Just when you think it couldnt get worse, theres this, said Kevin Warren of the Texas Health Care Association, which represents nursing homes and assisted living facilities. On Wednesday night, as Hurricane Laura neared, she and other staff members will hunker down in the home, grabbing naps in empty rooms.

The Atlantic is increasingly spawning more major hurricanes, according to an Associated Press analysis of NOAA hurricane data since 1950. The Atlantic now averages three major hurricanes a year, based on a 30-year running average. A study by Kossin found that, once a storm formed, the chances of its attaining major storm status globally increased by 8% a decade since 1979. Such a busy period started in 1995 and might end soon as northern Atlantic waters shift to a cooler regime, he said. In addition, he said: Climate change will be a bigger driver of losses in the future.___Follow Seth Borenstein on Twitter at www.twitter.com/borenbears.

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – Florida Power & Light, JEA and Georgia Power crews all know what it’s like to deal with the wake of a hurricane or tropical storm. As Louisiana and Texas grapple with the aftermath of both, crews from the utilities are heading west to help their Gulf Coast counterparts. Crews from JEA left Jacksonville on Wednesday afternoon to answer a mutual aid request from Lafayette, Louisiana. The FPL crews left Tuesday morning from West Palm Beach and arrived Wednesday. Right now, 900+ FPL personnel are on their way to assist in #Marco & #Laura restoration.

On the forecast track, the center of Laura will move over the southeastern Gulf of Mexico. Laura is expected to move over the central and northwestern Gulf of Mexico Wednesday with landfall early Thursday. Strengthening is forecast as the storm moves over the Gulf of Mexico, and Laura is forecast to become a Category 4 hurricane today. Tropical storm winds are expected to spread westward within the warning area in Cuba through today. Tropical storm conditions are expected in Little Cayman and Cayman Brac today.Tropical storm conditions are also expected within the warning area in the middle and lower Florida Keys and the Dry Tortugas this afternoon and tonight.

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. Three Florida emergency management staff members have been sent to Mississippi to help set up shelters that comply with coronavirus health regulations, as the region experienced Tropical Storm Marco on Monday and awaits Hurricane Laura. The Florida Division of Emergency Management said in a tweet that the assistance returns help provided during Hurricane Michael in 2018 and Hurricane Irma in 2017. The Division is happy to return the favor and values continued partnerships between state emergency response teams. https://t.co/ywnSyzsxze FL Division of Emergency Management (@FLSERT) August 25, 2020Division spokesman Jason Mahon said the people deployed have expertise in planning and sheltering. pic.twitter.com/d1TvAY05rv FL Division of Emergency Management (@FLSERT) August 24, 2020Gov.