From: clarinews@clarinet.com (MARK LANGFORD)
Newsgroups: biz.clarinet.sample,clari.news.disaster,clari.news.weather,clari.news.top
Subject: Storm victims pull together at shelters
Keywords: severe weather, trouble, municipal goverment, government,
	general weather, weather
Date: 26 Aug 92 20:55:54 GMT
Followup-To: biz.clarinet.sample
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	LAFAYETTE, La. (UPI) -- As Hurricane Andrew charged through Louisiana
bayou country Wednesday, residents who fled the storm's anger holed up
in dozens of shelters, listening for news of their homes and helping
each other.
	``We had a steady stream of people all night long,'' Marc Mouton,
chairman of the Lafayette-area Red Cross said of a shelter set up at the
Cajundome, usually the site of Southwest Louisiana University athletic
events.
	Despite the fear and apprehension that Andrew created among them,
evacuees seemed to look out for each other at the shelters, Mouton said.
	``I talked to a lady who said they sort of adopted this old man,'' he
said. ``They fed him and took care of him throughout the night.''
	Mouton said about 2,000 evacuees took shelter at the Cajundome, while
more than 8,000 others waited out of the destructive weather in 41 other
shelters in the six-parish area served by the organization.
	Most of the evacuees were from low-lying areas southeast of Lafayette
and other areas of south Louisiana that are highly prone to flooding.
	Chelsa Andrepont, who owns a gasoline-grocery store in Henderson, La.
, said the wood panels she and her husband nailed to windows shook. She
said part of their high-rise Exxon gasoline sign flew off and punctured
the roof of the business, where they stayed for the duration of thre
storm.
	``It was pretty damn wicked, I'll tell you that,'' said her husband,
Joe.
	Beaux Bridge resident Allan Broussard, who runs Ray and Flo's engine
shop, said what struck him was the way the wind drove the rain.
	``The water would dance on the highway. It looked like a bunch of
little troops marching down the highway. With a big gust, it was like
white steam racing past,'' he said.
	In New Iberia, 20 miles south of Lafayette, no one was injured when
powerful winds ripped part of the roof from the Jeanerette Senior High
School Gym where people had taken refuge. Trees were uprooted and many
homes damaged.
	Floodwaters as deep as four feet spilled from Bayou Teche in some
areas of the city of 32,000 early Wednesday. Uprooted oak trees littered
Louisiana Highway 182 and other routes in the area.
	Billy Louviere, owner of H&B Feeds, said the winds that hit the city
early Wednesday were clocked at 125 mph but some forecasters said 160
mph gusts were also reported when the storm hit land.
	``We feel lucky even though we got biggest brunt; nobody has been
killed or maimed,'' he said. ``The big job now is cleanup.''
	Danny Broussard's decision for his family to wait out the storm in
their home in Franklin, La., was later regretted.
	``I've never heard anything like this ungodly sound all night,'' said
Danny Broussard. ``I'll tell you one thing: next time I evacuate.''
	Many businesses in the small St. Mary Parish town 40 miles southeast
of Lafayette had ``Andrew go home'' painted on the boards covering the
windows.
	Deputies patrolled the streets at Franklin to prevent looting.
	Fifty percent of the buildings in the town of 10,000 were damaged,
officials said. At 84-year-old St. Mary Central High School, half the
roof was blown off and collapsed onto some palm trees. The other half
remained in place.
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