Heavy Heart

It's so sad watching my hometown, Lake Charles, LA, on the news. They're devastated and it breaks my heart. I've lost contact with my parents. I was able to talk to them Saturday but the phones aren't working again. They're at their camp 2 hours north of Lake Charles but they still lost power. I guess the cell phone batteries have died and they don't have car chargers. I talked to my nephew today. He stayed in Lake Charles but left yesterday. Said he HAD to have a bath and sleep in an air conditioned room. So much for roughing it! They first went to Alexandria but couldn't get a room and ended up driving to Shreveport where he *luckily* found a room at one of the casino hotels. Think he celebrated a bit much because when I called him at 10:30 this morning, I woke him up! They were heading to Monroe today to stay with family of a friend. I talked to my niece today too. Ahead of the storm, they had driven to their camp near Monroe. Then they heard the storm was going to be bad there so they left Friday morning and went to my sister's camp somewhere in mid-Mississippi. During the night, they lost power there. I don't think Pam's camp is really big and there were Pam and her husband and mother-in-law, another couple, Kristy, her husband and their three kids, Kristy's sister-in-law, her husband and their three kids so that makes 15 people in there. So, Saturday morning, Kristy and her family and her sister-in-law and her family all left and drove to near Jackson where they found 2 hotel rooms. They stayed there Saturday night, then drove back to Kristy's camp . . which also had no power. Kristy said they put glow sticks around the kids' necks last night so they could find them. The electricity came back on there this afternoon. Not sure how long they can stick it out. There are at least 15 people there now too. Damages my family has suffered have been minimal. A tree fell across mom's car (this was at their evacuation spot . . I knew they didn't go far enough!). Kristy has been told that they lost their fence, shingles on the roof are gone and some kind of vent was ripped off the roof which allowed rain in. A friend who had stayed behind did some temporary repairs to hopefully keep the water out. My grandparents had lived in a mobile home and they're both passed on now so dad had been working to get it ready to rent. Seems as though a tree or two fell on it and there are at least 7 holes in the roof. Not sure it can be salvaged. Also, dad still owns the house we grew up in and rents it. A tree fell on it. Mom and dad's house seems to have some a small amount of damage and they had a freezer full of shrimp and vegetables that will be lost but all in all, my family is very lucky. They've been told they cannot go back home until at least October 3 but that date is subject to change. Wish there was something I could do to help! Judy L.