We’re familiar with the power, the damage and the aftermath of a major hurricane. Osceola County residents tell stories of their Hurricane Charley and Irma experiences.
Many families are living that now in wide swaths of southeastern Louisiana, where Hurricane Ida roared ashore as a Category 4 storm.
Chad Boudreaux, the longtime Celebration High School boys soccer coach, is a native of St. Charles Parrish, located west of New Orleans. It’s been largely forgotten in national and regional news reports, so he’s making a run next week to provide the area with donated recovery and survival supplies.
According to a report by New Orleans NBC affiliate WDSU, St. Charles President Matt Jewel is “confident every structure in parish received some Ida damage,” and the area should expect to be without power for weeks.
He said the area received 13 hours of tropical storm force winds and as much as 6 hours of Category 3 (115+ mph) winds.
“The whole area got hammered. My dad’s house is about totaled. My mom’s house had a tree in the window,” he said. “My sister’s place didn’t do too badly, but my brother’s house had water in every room. Everybody’s got some damage.
“I was talking about what happened at school, and Laura Jones (CHS’ girls lacrosse coach) asked me, ‘What do they need?’ and offered to help. It got my mind racing about what we could put together.”
Celebration High is accepting donations of traditional items needed to ride out this experience: bottled and gallon water, canned foods, baby formula, diapers, wipes, tarps, batteries, bug spray, sunblock, duct tape, construction grade trash bags (the thick black ones), first aid items and cleaning supplies.
They can be brought to the CHS front office. Donations will also be accepted at the Celebration Storm’s home football game Sept. 17 against Dr. Phillips and loaded into a U-Haul. Dr. Phillips’ Athletic Director Steve McHale is a native of neighboring Jefferson Parrish.
On the morning of the 18th, Boudreaux will drive the truck personally to St. Charles Parish. He stresses that these supplies will go to the entire community, not just his family, because much of it just isn’t available right now.
“I put the local TV stations on my Roku, and they showed the St. Charles press conference, then cut away from it and showed news from New Orleans, from Baton Rouge, for the next three hours. It’s like a forgotten parish,” Boudreaux said. “People don’t know where they can go to get supplies, and since power’s out it’s hard to find gas to be able to drive out and get it.
“I have a friend who runs a United Way chapter there. We’ll be taking it to a local college, and they’ll distribute it through the community.”
