Laura's death toll climbs as hundreds of thousands remain without power

 By Mark Puleo, AccuWeather staff writer

Published Aug. 31, 2020 12:46 PM

It took Hurricane Laura only a matter of hours to inflict an impact on Louisiana residents that may be felt even after the season changes to autumn. Five days after the hurricane ravaged the Louisiana coast, 300,000 residents were still without power Monday while the death toll had reached 18 fatalities.

On top of those figures, countless others have been displaced by the storm and thousands more will be without water for the immediate future due to the “beating” that water-treatment plants took, according to Lake Charles Mayor Nic Hunter.

Linda Smoot, who evacuated from Hurricane Laura in a pickup truck with eight others, reacts as they return to see their homes, in Lake Charles, La., in the aftermath of the hurricane, Sunday, Aug. 30, 2020. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert)

“We’re going to be working really, really hard on the power outages, on the water systems, on the housing,” Gov. John Bel Edwards said in a news conference, according to The Associated Press. “But none of this is going to be easy. It’s not going to happen as quickly as most people would like for sure.”

On Facebook, Hunter added that if any of those displaced residents are looking to return to Lake Charles, they should be prepared to live in the new harsh reality “for many days, probably weeks.”

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As of Monday morning, 303,885 were without power in the Bayou State, according to PowerOutage.us. In Texas, another 57,840 are in the dark.

Scott Aaronson, vice president of Edison Electric Institute, said that crews will have to rebuild hundreds of towers and reconnect poles and lines ahead of power restoration efforts, according to FOX Business. Nearly 30,000 workers from across the country and even Canada have volunteered to help ease the power restoration burden.

Of the 18 confirmed deaths between Texas and Louisiana from the former Category 4 hurricane, 10 have been blamed on carbon monoxide poisoning following the unsafe operation of generators.

According to the Louisiana Department of Health, the two most recent carbon monoxide poising fatalities were confirmed on Sunday. The two individuals were an 84-year-old husband and 80-year-old wife in Allen Parish who were running their generator inside. On Friday, another five members from the same household were killed in the same manner according to Lake Charles Fire Chief Shawn Caldwell. The other three carbon monoxide poisoning deaths occurred at a Texas pool hall, according to KNOE.com.

President Donald Trump talks with Texas Gov. Greg Abbott and Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, as he arrives to view damage caused by Hurricane Laura, Saturday, Aug. 29, 2020, in Orange, Texas. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)

President Donald Trump visited the damaged areas of Texas and Louisiana over the weekend and spent about two hours in Lake Charles while also visiting volunteers for the Cajun Navy. The Cajun Navy is an organization of volunteer groups consisting of members who use their private boats to assist in water-related search-and-rescue efforts and other charitable endeavors often tied to disasters.

Before he arrived, President Trump approved the state’s major disaster declaration request for 23 parishes, thus opening FEMA assistance for impacted individuals and communities.

According to FEMA administrator Tony Robinson, more than 52,500 people had applied for the assistance by the end of the weekend.

During the storm, 19 babies from the Lake Charles Memorial Hospital were brought to different hospitals around the state, according to The AP. According to Dr. Juan Bossano, the babies, some of whom were on ventilators or feeding tubes, managed just fine through the storm.

Leah Upton, director of the NICU unit of Lake Charles Memorial Hospital, told ABC News that the team had just a few hours to move the babies to safer ground before Laura's wrath arrived.

“We had 19 critical babies and we’re not just talking about carrying babies across town -- we’re talking about the ventilator equipment, feeding tubes, breast milk, all the things these babies would need we had to transport,” Upton said. “You have a duty and responsibility to these patients. These babies, we treat them like they’re our own.”

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