LSU Basketball Aids Lake Charles Area After Hurricane Laura Leaves Devastation
LSU coach Will Wade hasn't seen anything quite like the devastation he saw earlier this week. On Monday, Wade and the LSU basketball team made a trip to Lake Charles to drop off supplies and help a community that was recently rocked by Category 4 Hurricane Laura.
A leadership group established by the program decided to meet and discuss what ways the team could help after witnessing some of the pictures on social media. The team decided to partner with the Cajun Navy and load up much needed supplies for a community left in shambles by Laura.
The drive from Baton Rouge to Lake Charles is about two hours but not even that amount of time could prepare Wade and the players for what they saw upon arrival.
"I mean that area is in desperate need," Wade said. "I think I described it as indescribable devastation. It looks like 500 tornadoes just touched down, it's unbelievable how bad it is. They don't have electricity still, I mean it's gonna take years to get things built back up. What we did was a very, very small part and we've got to continue to help because it's gonna be a long road back."
Everyone in the Louisiana area knows about the Cajun Navy by now, a group of volunteer citizens who aid in search and rescue following natural disasters and were formed after Hurricane Katrina. Wade said in talking with the Cajun Navy members who LSU partnered with, that it was the worst devastation they'd ever seen.
"They go to natural disasters all over the southeast and all over the country and they said it's the worst they've seen," Wade said. "At the community center where we did most of our work, across the street there was a house and the second story was ripped off and in the backyard of the house next door. There was another house and the whole house was sitting about two lots over and all that was left was the frame."
From water to Powerade, milk, cleaning supplies, batteries, flashlights and dog food, the team packed the bottom of two buses and an entire 18-wheeler full of supplies to help out in any way it could. While there wasn't as much water damage from Laura as many had expected, the wind damage was another story, peaking at around 150 mph once making landfall.
While houses are being fixed, Wade said the next item on the docket is trying to get generators for families who have been forced to move into one room living areas.
"We were there 10 days after the storm hit and there's still power poles laying on the street, we met person after person still sleeping in their cars," Wade said. "It's heart wrenching people in our state are going through that."
Another goal that the players wanted to accomplish was to lift the spirits of the local community who have undergone unimaginable tragedy in the last 10 days.
"The players were in shock when we got there and they did a phenomenal job of trying to move people's spirits," Wade said. "A lot of the people there certainly knew Javonte [Smart], Jalen [Cook] and Josh [Leblanc], kids we've got from in-state who have played in the state tournament there. We've gotta do more, we've gotta continue to work and try to help things out down there."
Moving forward, one of the main efforts Wade and the basketball program hope to accomplish is spreading the word of just how bad things are in that area.
"It's gonna take our folks, it's gonna take the people of Louisiana to help out because this isn't going away anytime soon," Wade said. "It's gonna be a years long battle to get things back to somewhat normal."
