LOUISIANA, TEXAS INFRASTRUCTURE REPORTS

LAURA has devastated areas of Louisiana specially along the I 10 corridor and Many of us are preparing to make our fall migration

Perhaps those with specific knowledge of the road conditions and various services can post on this thread to keep all of us informed of the conditions in the area.
Things like open GAS STATIONS specially if RV friendly

Detours that may impact RVers as they travel through the area.

Any restaurants and groceries that are open near I10

Any open Camp grounds

Even repair shops for MH'S and/or trailers just in case of breakdown

If the moderators would make it a sticky for a while it might be helpful

Thanks for starting this topic. I went ahead and made it sticky, so folks can easily find it.

The eye of Laura went over my house as a cat 3 on US 190 north of Lake Charles, so I have some first hand accounts of conditions here, and second hand accounts of conditions in the Lake Charles area.  Right now, my son is off filling gas cans to refill the motorhome which we are using to driveway camp as we have no power at our house.  Some local gas stations are open on generator power with long lines for fuel (1/2 mile+, selling out multiple times per day, waiting for replenishment trucks, ...), so my son drove east to get gas, he ended up driving 50 miles to Elton, LA where they had an open gas station and no long line.

As of this yesterday there was no place with commercial power at least from Jasper, Texas until Elton, Louisiana with commercial electricity. (96 miles)  Any stores that are open are on generator power, a couple of grocery stores in town reopened yesterday here, but with no refrigerated or frozen foods.  Little else is open, a few other types of stores (auto parts, etc).  Things are getting better by the day, most roads are now passable, still some downed power lines even on the highways as of yesterday, but thousands of powerline workers are now in the area quickly fixing things, with luck we will get power back in town in the next few days, but rural areas may be 4-6 weeks or more before power is restored.  Note with the outages, no traffic lights are working, and many signs are down.  It was stronger when it hit Lake Charles, wind speeds in Lake Charles were around 140mph, by the time it got to us it was down to about 120 mph.  Thankfully our house made it intact, just downed trees in the yard, and our privacy fenced back yard is no longer so private.

Louisiana State Parks are closed as of today. 3 may be opening tomorrow, with most scheduled for Sept. 4 opening. A few even have no reopening schedule yet due to extensive damage. Check the state park website for details. We had a 2 night stay at South Toledo Bend State Park for Sept 1-3 cancelled.