ST. JOHN THE BAPTIST PARISH, La. — Two days after Hurricane Francine brought inches of rain and 50+ mile-per-hour wind gusts to St. John the Baptist Parish, residents are still dealing with flooded streets and power outages. Crews have begun working, though, and parish leaders said it will not take long to return to normal.
South Emile Street in Garyville saw some of the worst of the storm. “Very scary noises, trees falling, trees breaking,” said longtime resident Timothy Fobb. Once the storm passed, he and his family saw large trees had fallen on either side of their house, blocking them in.
Fobb has been driving through his neighbors’ lots to get to the store. “I tore up their grass, but I appreciate them letting me go through,” he said.
The trees took out several utility poles, knocking out power to Fobb and his neighbors. “They tell us ‘tomorrow’ but looking at this now,” said Garyville resident Leroy Williams, gesturing to the downed trees, “it’s gonna be a while.”
As of Friday afternoon, there were about 3,000 outages in the parish overall, including nearly every home and business in Garyville. “That's down from 14,000 but we're not going to be satisfied until everyone is completely restored,” said Parish President Jaclyn Hotard. She said Entergy told her 75% of outages would be fixed by the end of the day Friday.
She told WWL Louisiana Friday that she and other parish officials have been leaning on Entergy to fix them as quickly as possible. “We understand this problem is across the region and resources are stretched thin. But of course, it’s frustration building from the residents, and we just want to get these types of hazards out of the way as quickly as possible,” she said.
Flooding is also still a concern. Parts of Highway 51 were still underwater Friday, and as of the afternoon both sides were closed from Peavine Road to Ruddock. Hotard said it is because the area is so close to Lake Pontchartrain, which “had some storm surge and rain, so it was inundated, so it takes a little bit of time for all of that water to flow back out to Lake Pontchartrain.” She added that there was much less water on the road than there was the day after the storm.
There was good news Friday afternoon on Emile Street too. Entergy crews arrived and National Guardsmen began to clear the first tree with chainsaws. “They’ve been here since the minute after it happened,” said Fobb. “So I guess everything takes time. I got a little patience with this.”
St. John Parish residents who have damage to their homes from Hurricane Francine and are uninsured or uninsured can apply for assistance. The Parish said they can stop by New Wine Christian Fellowship (1929 Airline Highway) from 8:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. Monday-Thursday.
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