With five named storms striking the Louisiana coast in 2020, it was a record-setting year.
"The storm wasn't just an invasion of his safety, but his spirit," one heartbroken Lake Charles resident said after Hurricane Laura. "just more than you want to go through."
In the span of 36 hours, Hurricane Laura went from a Category One to a Category Four. And on August 27, when it struck Cameron head-on, winds got as high as 150 miles an hour.
In Cameron Parish, rampant destruction. And as many said, it looked like a bomb had just gone off. Stores, homes, churches, TV stations, even casinos - Laura didn't play favorites.
Laura impacts were felt from the Texas-Louisiana state line to Acadiana, and our immediate area didn't escape the strong winds. One Lafayette resident was thankful he wasn't home when a tree fell into his home.
Yet even in the devastation, there were silver linings, a reason for faith in humanity.
"If I don't have it, my neighbor has it," said one resident. "We help each other. That's what a community is all about."
Across three states, 700,000 people lost power, and some estimates of Laura's economic impact reached $25 billion.
Two months later, as Louisiana was just starting to recover, it happened again.
"When I saw it I cried. It was a heartbreak. Because we survived Laura and then six weeks later, we get this one and it just devastates us," a resident of Jeff Davis Parish commented.
This one - Hurricane Delta. And Delta spoke loudly with her howling and powerful winds.
Storm surges had zero respect for infrastructure, the surge washing away layers of asphalt and foundation in Cameron. Winds had zero respect for homes throughout South Louisiana.
Delta's numbers? 600,000 lost power, with estimated damages around $6 billion.
A banner year, so to speak, for Louisiana's marriage to hurricanes.
As Lake Charles family who stayed put during a storm said, "We're locking her down...won't be the first one, won't be the last one."
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