JEFFERSON PARISH, La. — After some loud bangs Wednesday night, Donald Hirschmann got up early Thursday morning to buy a chainsaw.
“My neighbor called me and told me my tree had fallen,” Hirschmann said.
Hirschmann says that tree was originally planted by a squirrel, but Hurricane Zeta uprooted it, putting it on the edge of his house and three vehicles along Terry Parkway in Terrytown.
“The only one that has any significant damage is that one that’s fully insured,” Hirschmann said. “Hopefully that’ll cover it.”
Thanks to some helpful neighbors, cleanup is underway.
“Nothing else happened to the house expect for I’m missing a few shingles here and there it looks like,” Hirschmann said.
Rebecca Daher, who normally leaves during hurricanes, spent Thursday cleaning up as well.
“It was really bad on the Westbank,” Daher said. “It was scary because I was actually here for this one. The wind was really bad.”
Like Hirschmann, Daher hasn’t had electricity since Wednesday afternoon and has no idea when it’ll be back.
“This is the first time it went out so early during a storm and it has not come back on or I have not seen any Entergy trucks,” Daher said.
The storm knocked out power to most of Jefferson Parish. It also knocked off part of a brick wall at an apartment complex in Terrytown.
Jefferson Parish tweeted out photos saying a child was near a window when the wall broke. Three families were initially displaced. Thursday parish leaders asked everyone in the building to leave.
“We don’t believe the buildings are stable and we’re currently spending time right now getting time in hotel rooms temporarily,” Parish President Cynthia Lee Sheng said.
Dealing with another night of no electricity, Daher hopes the lights will come on soon.
“My elderly mother that I live with, she needs it,” Daher said.
Hirschmann meanwhile says he’s prepared for a few days without it.
“I’m a boy scout leader so I’ve got everything needed for camping in the woods,” Hirschmann said.
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