But how many RV awnings?
What do you guys do out here when those hurricanes hit? I know nothing about them since I have always lived on the west coast.
-Don- DeRidder, LA
There are basically 2 options, shelter in place, or run away, until now I have always sheltered in place, but after the double blow from Laura followed by Delta which hit within a couple of miles of the same landfall as Laura 3 weeks later in 2020, I am going to leave next time there is a major hurricane. Laura was the strongest hurricane to hit the Louisiana coast in over 150 years, being a strong Cat 4 at landfall (1 mph short of being a Cat 5), and it was like no other hurricane I have ever experienced, I thought Rita was bad in 2006 with 95-100 mph winds at our house 80+ miles inland, but that was nothing compared to Laura with 130+ mph winds when the eye passed over our town. For those of you not in hurricane territory, picture being inside an F2 tornado for 3-5 hours, with a path of total distruction 50+ miles wide. Here that meant 80% of houses having roof damage, 1 in 5 houses rendered uninhabitable, many of which are still waiting to be repaired or torn down 18+ months later. The local timber industry estimates over $1.2 billion in lost timber with 1 in 4 trees downed or damaged to the point of being unharvestable. Over 200 trees downed or uprooted at the local city park (well over half the trees in the park), with the park just reopening in the last month or two, many of those being 100+ year old trees. Power being out for weeks afterward, over 10,000 power poles in our parish (county) had to be replaced (we were very lucky at our house we are on the same grid section as the local hospital and government buildings so we were within the first 3% getting power back on day 6 post storm). Then of course Delta hit while many people were still without power from Laura, its track went about 40 miles east of us thankfully, so we only experienced 95 mph winds from it, yet local downed tree damage, and roof damage was nearly as bad as from Laura with many trees that were weakened by Laura falling during Delta, and temporary roof tarps put up just days earlier being ripped away. Driving around the area today the destruction is still apparent, many twisted and mangled trees everywhere you look, houses that are sitting empty with visible damage, appliances sitting outside, many houses still have blue tarps on the roofs, some are awaiting repairs, many with home owners that can't afford repairs due to limited or no insurance coverage.
