Hurricane Laura Causes Widespread Damage to City
Alexandria, La. (August 27, 2020) — Hurricane Laura, which was a 150-mph Category 4 major hurricane at landfall near Cameron in Southwest Louisiana, was still packing 100 mph sustained winds as the storm passed west of Alexandria Thursday morning. As a result, Alexandria received sustained tropical storm force winds around 50 mph and gusts as high as 85 mph that caused widespread wind damage and knocked out power citywide.
“We knew this storm had the potential to cause a lot of damage, and it certainly did that,” said Alexandria Mayor Jeffrey W. Hall. “While we had some brief issues with high water from the rapid heavy rains, as we expected the wind was the most serious issue. Not only did our electrical distribution take a devastating hit from downed trees and utility poles, but the transmission lines coming into the city were damaged as well, which is what resulted in the entire city losing power.”
At this time, officials do not have an estimate of when service will be restored.
“I know that is the number one question on everyone’s mind,” Hall said. “We need to clear the downed trees and repair the backbone of our distribution system. At the same time, we need to work with our transmission partners, such as Cleco, to repair those connections and that infrastructure. We need to make sure we get services restored to our hospitals and other critical need customers and to each of our residents. We will be working on all of those things concurrently, but we have to realize this was a massive storm that delivered a devastating hit to not just Alexandria, but the whole western side of the state. So while there is a tremendous desire and need to get services restored, there is also a tremendous amount of work to be done.”
“Our crews have been working to make repairs since it was safe to get out after the storm came through,” said Utility System Director Michael Marcotte. “We anticipated we could experience significant damage from the storm and we had contract crews in place to assist in the repair and recovery efforts. This was just a monster of a storm and the winds we received were higher than I have ever seen locally. Our crews are working as quickly as they can to repair our infrastructure, and our partners are doing the same to get service restored as quickly as possible.”
In addition to the utility system, the Alexandria Zoo and the city’s parks suffered significant damage from the storm. The Zoo will be closed until further notice as repairs are made.
ATRANS bus service, which was suspended Thursday, will resume operations Friday. Due to a lack of electrical power, all city offices will be closed Friday.
Also, Rapides Parish Sheriff Mark Wood announced a parish-wide curfew from 9 p.m. until 6 a.m. Thursday and Friday night.
Residents are reminded they can report storm damage such as fallen trees in roadways, downed power lines and poles and other issues in the AlexConnects App. Residents may also call 318-441-6231 or (318) 473-1301. Please remember people should avoid downed lines as they may be energized. Residents are also encouraged to exercise caution while driving as crews and equipment are clearing debris and making repairs along many roads throughout the city.
The Mayor’s Office will continue to provide updates on repair efforts on the Alexandria City Government Facebook page as well as the city websites at www.cityofalexandriala.com and www.cenlaready.com.
Contact:
Jim Smilie
Communications
318.449.5038 (Office)
318.730.1683 (Cell)
jim.smilie@cityofalex.com
