Louisiana residents getting doused with rain and hit with heavy winds Saturday described what they saw to the Herald — some residents feeling afraid and others completely unfazed.
Jill Broussard of St. Martinville stayed home with her son, granddaughter and dog to weather the storm Saturday afternoon.
“Right now it’s pretty bad at this point. Lot of rain, lot of wind … The rain just started. It was kind of drizzling earlier but now there’s a lot of rain.Trees are falling down all over the area … All the roads are closed completely because of trees,” said Broussard.
“In my backyard I’ve seen some trees fall. Right now we’ve just been getting the beginning. I don’t even think it’s the worst part yet,” said Broussard, who told the Herald she lost power for about an hour.
“I’m nervous. I’m scared because our roof is leaking, and it was leaking before this, so we had some guy and my son go up and try to fix it the best we could, and I’m hearing a banging, banging, banging, and the house is kind of swaying. It feels like maybe a swaying sensation because we are on pillars,” said Broussard.
Broussard said she prepared well for the storm by purchasing supplies like extra food and flashlights, and planned on staying in her home to wait for the storm to pass.
Other residents like Chris Malkove of New Orleans, who endured Hurricane Katrina in 2005, didn’t think much of Tropical Storm Barry.
“This is no Katrina.This is nothing. This is nothing for us, anyway,” said Malkove.
Although Barry didn’t impact New Orleans as much as other regions of the state, initial forecasts warned New Orleans residents of flooding rains, so Malkove was prepared and said she even borrowed money for supplies.
“Right now we are all a little bent out of shape, you think with the forecasting these days they would have done a better job with predicting these things,” said Malkove.
“I’ve been through them all. I’ve never left for any hurricane. I was in the area for Katrina, and I didn’t leave for that … and we definitely did some swimming,” said Malkove.
