- Laverne Spears and his wife have lived on Live Oak Lane in New Iberia for more than 20 years. Because of this, the couple has also experienced many 'close calls' in terms of storm damage.
- Laverne's wife was driving to work, minutes before a large oak tree crashed onto the street in front of her.
BROADCAST TRANSCRIPT:
“Within five minutes of it coming down, she was right there, at that stop sign.”
Laverne Spears and his wife, Paula, have lived on Live Oak Lane in New Iberia for more than 20 years. On Monday morning, Laverne and his grandson, Cameron, were suddenly awoken.
“My wife was leaving to go substitute teach at Highland (Baptist School), and the storm was coming, so she was trying to get out real quick," explained Spears. "Within minutes of her leaving, stopping at that stop sign, me and [Cameron] both felt the thud.”
According to Laverne and Cameron, it was not a matter of if the tree fell, but when.“That tree, visibly, looked like it could come down at any moment," said Cameron. "It was holding on by…I have no idea what was holding it, I can’t even tell you.”
The New Iberia residents say this was not the first time they’ve had a close call.
“We’ve had this tree right here come down, we’ve had limbs fall, all kind of big limbs that cause damage to our roofs. This is the second time a tree has fallen by my room.” Cameron said that this time, it barely phased him. “I was sitting there, I just woke up, I was checking my email and I was just like waking up and I just heard ‘boom!’ and I went ‘yep, something fell.”
But Laverne said he’s just happy that everyone’s safe.
“I was so thankful that [my wife] had left when she did, and was not involved…it woulda been bad.”
