Acadiana - Natural Disasters

Natural Disasters

Hurricane Lili

On October 3, 2002, the central Acadiana region suffered a direct hit from category one Hurricane Lili. The hurricane caused most of Acadiana to lose power, and some areas lost phone service. In addition, some high-rise buildings in downtown Lafayette had windows broken and many homes throughout the region had roof damage. The high winds of Lili toppled the tower of KLFY TV-10, the regional CBS affiliate, onto the station's studio facilities. Only one injury inside the station was reported from the tower's collapse.

Hurricane Katrina

The eastern Acadiana region was among those affected by Hurricane Katrina on August 29, 2005 (although the storm was not nearly as severe as from Greater New Orleans eastward). The region was used by many returning evacuees as a "last stop" of temporary domicile before returning to the Greater New Orleans region. This was due in large part to the Greater Baton Rouge area already being inundated with evacuees. Then state Governor Blanco made a public request that those returning not try to seek lodging in the capital due to this crisis of overpopulation. Lafayette and several other municipalities had both public and church-run shelters set up to handle the influx. The largest of these shelters, run by the Red Cross, was the Lafayette sports area the Cajundome, holding a reported 9,800 persons.

Hurricane Rita

The western Acadiana region and east Texas were most affected by Hurricane Rita on September 24, 2005. The Greater Lake Charles region saw the majority of the damage.

Hurricane Gustav

On Labor Day 2008, Hurricane Gustav caused severe damage to the region. Although Lafayette, Saint Martinville and Crowley had little damage (comparatively) and some still had power, the rest of the region was not as lucky. From Alexandria to the coast and Baton Rouge to Lake Charles there were reports of massive power failures and flooding. Most notable was the flooding south of Louisiana Highway 14 and the communities there. US 90 was shut down for several days due to the flooding caused by Gustav.

The total death toll from Gustav in Acadiana was limited. This was attributed to the evacuation and mitigation plans that had been drilled by state and local official and to a strong presence of both the Department of Homeland Security and the Federal Emergency Management Agency. In total, almost two million people along the Louisiana coast were evacuated in just over two days. This made Gustav preparations the largest evacuation in Louisiana history and one of the most successful evacuations in the nation's history.

2011 Mississippi River floods

As of 11 May 2011 (2011 -05-11) the US Army Corps of Engineers believes that if the Morganza Spillway is not opened to funnel 300,000 cubic feet per second (8,500 m3/s) of water from the Mississippi River into the Atchafalaya River basin, that water which would be diverted by opening the spillway could potentially cause levees to fail along the river from Morganza to Plaquemines Parish, including all of the New Orleans area, resulting in as much as 25 feet (7.6 m) of floodwater. Opening the Morganza Spillway to this extent would only use 50% of the spillway's designed flow capacity.

See: 2011 Mississippi River floods