From: drsres00@ucs.usl.edu (Schwartz Donald R)
Subject: GL:  hurricane writeup
Organization: Univ. of Southwestern La., Lafayette
Distribution: na
Date: Tue, 1 Sep 1992 20:07:14 GMT

hi!

this is a letter i sent out to friends -- i decided to post it since
i have received various good wishes thru news and e-mail.  and to those
of you who contacted me about donations, THANK YOU!!!

this is a letter about the hurricane (finally!)

well, lafayette survived pretty much intact -- lots and lots of trees
uprooted (some HUGE trees were uprooted, especially in girard park, where
some of the tree root systems were 20 feet high [picture a tree on its
side -- the roots stood 20 feet high], and others were just snapped in
half and splintered), lots of signs and billboards were destroyed, and a
few houses and businesses were crunched (the parking tower behind pa-pa's
downtown fell and crushed the back part of pa-pa's).  usl had some trees
down, and the bleachers at the softball field were tossed (one set of them
ended up on the pitcher's mound!)  just about all of lafayette had
power by friday nite (the hurricane hit tues. nite/wed. morning).  
(i was only without electricity for a few hours wed. morn and a little
over an hour later wed. afternoon -- but my cable was out ALL DAY wednesday!
;^)   )

our friends to the south and east didn't fare too well, though.  NOT ONE
building in morgan city remained untouched, and new iberia and franklin
were hit really hard.  (Andrew came ashore and then pretty much followed
highway 90 until JUST east of lafayette, where it luckily turned north)
luckily, the hurricane storm surge was absorbed
by the marshy areas along the coast -- had the eye come ashore 1/2 degree
to the west, iberia and st. mary parishes would have had many many FEET
of water.  the red cross and salvation army have been here all week, and
federal troops have shown up -- we've had lots and lots of food/clothes/money
drives, but it's going to take a long long time for those small towns
to recover -- it will be weeks before they have electricity, etc. again.
(lafayette is STILL trying to clear all of its roads, and we weren't
hit nearly as hard as franklin, morgan city, etc.)  

only 6 people in south louisiana have died because of the hurricane, but
4 more bodies were found out in the gulf -- but it's not known yet where
they came from.  you might have heard about a boat which lost power 20 miles
out in the gulf while trying to come in on monday.  all 7 people were
rescued (AFTER the hurricane had passed.)

usl started classes again monday.  (it was closed tues at noon until monday
morning)  the powers that be are trying to decide when to make up those
days -- labor day, the friday after thanksgiving, and saturdays have been
suggested. 

if you can (and feel like it) it would be a wonderful thing if you could
donate a little something to the hurricane relief -- it is desperately
needed and would be VERY much appreciated.  contact your local red cross
and/or salvation army or the like.

and that's the way it is...

--donald

--                                                 __  __   ______   __     
Donald R. Schwartz        drs1002@rouge.usl.edu | /\ \/\ \ /\  ___\ /\ \    
                          ds@gator.cacs.usl.edu | \ \ \_\ \\ \___  \\ \ \___
Center for Advanced Computer Studies            |  \ \_____\\/\_____\\ \_____\
University of Southwestern Louisiana            |   \/_____/ \/_____/ \/_____/ 



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