Category Archives: Louisiana

Hurricane Laura brings 150mph winds to Louisiana with more ‘catastrophic conditions’ to come

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Six fatalities recorded in Louisiana, including a teen girl who died after a tree fell on her home and a man who died of carbon monoxide poisoning

Hurricane Laura, the most powerful hurricane to strike the US this year, moved across Louisiana on a northerly path on Thursday, after threatening an “unsurvivable storm surge” on the coast and tropical force weather as far as Tennessee.

The storm slammed into western Louisiana overnight with gusts of up to 150mph and could cause “catastrophic conditions”, the National Hurricane Center (NHC) said. Not until 11 hours after landfall did it finally weaken.

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‘Devastation everywhere’: Louisiana city wakes up to storm’s aftermath

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Lake Charles felt the full force of Hurricane Laura and now residents who rode out the disaster are picking up the pieces

Classie Ballou lives on the fifth floor of Chateau du Lac, an eight-story retirement home in the Louisiana city of Lake Charles. “I made it through Rita,” he said from a park bench in the rubble of downtown as he reflected on the fury of Hurricane Laura that had just roared through his home town. “Honestly, I thought it wasn’t going to be that bad.”

He shook his head. “If I were doing it over, I would leave.”

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Marco and Laura could hit US coast as hurricanes, forecasters say

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  • Louisiana in path of two tropical storms now in Gulf
  • Mississippi governor heralds ‘unprecedented times’

Tropical Storm Marco was swirling over the Gulf of Mexico early on Sunday, heading for a possible hit on the Louisiana coast as a hurricane, while Tropical Storm Laura knocked utilities out as it battered Hispaniola, following a track forecast to take it to the same part of the US coast – also as a hurricane.

Related: Could the US and Caribbean be heading for their worst hurricane season?

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Tornadoes rip through US south leaving trail of devastation and killing dozens

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  • More than two dozen tornadoes reported in four states
  • Louisiana sheriff reports ‘extreme flooding’ seen rarely ‘if ever’

At least six people were killed after severe storms tore through a number of southern states late on Wednesday, adding to weeks of extreme weather that had already killed more than two dozen people and destroyed hundreds of homes.

Related: Tornadoes and storms hit US south as six killed in Mississippi

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Storms tear through US south, leaving at least 19 people dead

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Storms caused flooding, mudslides and power outages, killing 11 people in Mississippi and six people in Georgia

Severe weather has swept across the southern US, killing at least 19 people and damaging hundreds of homes from Louisiana into the Appalachian mountains.

Many spent part of the night sheltering in basements, closets and bathtubs as sirens wailed to warn of possible tornadoes.

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‘These houses are flattened’: tornadoes and storms hit US south – video report

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A tornado strike destroyed homes and left a trail of devastation across large parts of the US south on Sunday. In northern Louisiana, up to 300 homes and other buildings were damaged, and utility companies reported thousands of power outages. The Mississippi Emergency Management Agency confirmed at least six deaths in the state from the severe weather

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Tornado strikes Louisiana as powerful storm could affect over a dozen states

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Twister destroyed buildings in Monroe, Louisiana, while local media said at least two tornadoes touched down in central Texas

A tornado strike destroyed homes and left a trail of devastation across parts of Louisiana on Sunday, as forecasters warned that a powerful Easter storm could affect more than a dozen states and millions of people before the early hours of Monday.

The storm provided a dilemma for public safety officials trying to find the balance between wanting people to stay in lockdown for the coronavirus pandemic and wanting them to leave their homes for shelter if conditions worsened.

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‘A perfect storm’: poverty and race add to Covid-19 toll in US deep south

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Whole families are falling victim as African Americans are hit disproportionately hard by the coronavirus pandemic

Last weekend, at two churches in New Orleans, two pastors read from separate passages of the Bible as they buried four members of the same family. Each had died within days of each other after contracting the novel coronavirus.

Related: 'A nightmare all over again': after surviving Katrina, New Orleans battles Covid-19

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One of the last abortions in Louisiana? Diary of a woman from a clinic under threat of closure

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This week, the supreme court will hear a case that if upheld could threaten the constitutional right to an abortion in the US

The US supreme court will hear oral arguments this week in a high-stakes case that threatens the constitutional right to an abortion.

The Louisiana law under review, known as June Medical Services v Russo, would require doctors who perform abortions to be able to admit patients at a nearby hospital – a law abortion rights groups characterize as a bureaucratic hurdle designed limit abortion access.

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‘Trust your dog’: extraordinary pets help solve crimes by finding bodies

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After grueling training, a rare few civilians and their dogs are allowed to participate in criminal investigations by searching for cadavers

Rob Ward keeps baby wipes, canned soup, and bottled water in his truck. “If I need a bath or a meal, there it is,” he explained in a Walker, Louisiana Waffle House. Calls can come at anytime, and his truck remains loaded, his bag packed.

Today is a rare day off from both of his jobs: a nine to five at a printing company and volunteer work looking for dead bodies with his Australian shepherd, Niko. Ward and Niko are one of approximately 500 volunteer cadaver dog-handler pairs across the country who assist law enforcement in recovering human remains.

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‘A story about freedom’: why an artist is re-enacting a forgotten slave revolt

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Hundreds of people dressed in costume will reconstruct an 1811 Louisiana slave uprising, the largest in US history

In the middle of a grassy traffic island, adjacent to a nondescript strip mall in southern Louisiana, stands the only physical memorial to an event that rocked the racist foundations of the United States.

A brown plaque, erected to commemorate a plantation home, has one short, embossed aside: “Major 1811 slave uprising organized here.”

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Louisiana’s Democratic governor battles to avoid runoff election

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  • John Bel Edwards must secure 50% of vote in Saturday’s poll
  • Republicans Ralph Abraham and Eddie Rispone lead challenge

Louisiana’s governor, John Bel Edwards, is fighting to hang on to a rare Democratic governorship in the deep south, against a national Republican offensive aimed at forcing him into a run-off after Saturday’s election.

Republicans are trying to hold Edwards under the 50% benchmark the region’s only Democratic governor needs to win outright over five other candidates. On Friday night, Donald Trump made a last-minute appeal to Louisiana voters.

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School at centre of Guardian’s Cancer Town series may move students due to air pollution

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Emissions of a likely carcinogen emitted by a nearby plant have been recorded at levels hundreds of times above the safe limit

Local officials in Reserve, Louisiana, are examining the prospect of removing pupils from an elementary school situated a few hundred feet from a chemical plant that presents the highest risk of cancer due to airborne toxins anywhere in America, the Guardian has learned.

The Fifth Ward elementary school, which educates close to 500 students aged up to 10 years old, has become a focal point in environmental activism in Reserve after emissions of a likely carcinogen, chloroprene, emitted by the nearby plant have been recorded at the school at levels hundreds of times above the safe limit recommended by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

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Cancer Town: Rev William Barber visits town at heart of Guardian campaign – video

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The Guardian invited the civil rights leader to the community on the banks of the Mississippi River where the people face the highest risk of cancer due to airborne toxins in the United States. Lending his support to their struggle, he said: 'When you poison the air … it is a form of idolatry. It is to worship money and to worship profit over people'

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Storm Barry makes landfall in Louisiana – video

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Thousands of homes have been left without power after Storm Barry battered parts of Louisiana early on Sunday. The storm flooded highways, forced people to scramble on to rooftops, and dumped heavy rain as it made landfall 160 miles west of New Orleans. Authorities have warned of disastrous flooding across the Gulf Coast

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Hurricane Barry: storm strengthens as officials warn of heavy rain to come

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  • New Orleans residents told to seek shelter as 50,000 lose power
  • NHC director details ‘amazing amount of moisture’

Tropical Storm Barry strengthened into a category one hurricane on Saturday as it neared the Louisiana coast, threatening millions with heavy rains and storm surge. The storm was expected to weaken after it moved inland but forecasters encouraged residents in New Orleans to be patient and stay vigilant.

More than 12 hours after city officials anticipating crippling and potentially historic flooding told residents to “shelter in place”, a few rays of sun peeked through the clouds on Saturday morning, adding a glint to the mostly dry city streets.

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New Orleans: evacuations ordered as city braces for possible hurricane

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Forecasters say the biggest danger is not destructive winds but heavy rain as it was upgraded to tropical storm Barry on Thursday

Mandatory evacuations were ordered south-east of New Orleans, Louisiana, on Thursday as the city and a surrounding stretch of the Gulf coast braced for a possible hurricane over the weekend that could unload heavy rain and send water spilling over levees, in the first big test for flood defenses since the devastation of Hurricane Katrina in 2005.

The strength and speed of the wind increased on Thursday and by mid-morning was upgraded to become tropical storm Barry.

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Louisiana braces for latest turn of the screw on abortion rights

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The state legislature is to vote on a bill banning terminations after six weeks but so-called Trap laws have already severely restricted access

Kathaleen Pittman still remembers the first time she had to turn away a patient because of new intrusive anti-abortion laws in Louisiana.

“We had the patient already prepped and ready to go – medicated and everything. Then we got a call from our attorney saying that the governor had just signed the 24-hour waiting period into law,” said Pittman, who has worked on staff at the Hope Medical Group For Women in Shreveport, Louisiana, for more than 26 years.

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Louisiana senate passes anti-abortion bill in latest attack on women’s rights

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Amendment, which would change state constitution to say Louisianans have no right to abortions, set to go before voters

The Louisiana senate approved a state constitutional amendment on Tuesday declaring that citizens have no constitutional right to abortions. The move is the latest salvo in a broader assault against reproductive rights in the state, and it comes on the heels of extreme legislation in Georgia, Missouri, and Alabama all aimed at near-total bans of the procedure.

The measure now heads back to the house, which has already passed a version, for final approval. The amendment still, however, needs to be ratified by Louisiana voters in a referendum this fall.

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