Big storms have been ragin’ in Cajun country at a record clip.
Hurricane Zeta slammed into Louisiana Wednesday as a Category 2 storm, becoming the fifth named storm to make landfall in the state this hurricane season – the most ever for the Pelican State.
Zeta killed at least one person in Louisiana, and left hundreds of thousands of people without power.
The state still was recovering from the previous four storms – with thousands of people still displaced from their damaged homes.
Louisiana’s string of named storms kicked off June 7, when Tropical Storm Cristobal hit southeastern Louisiana.
Then came Tropical Storm Marco on August 24, followed just three days later by the immensely powerful Hurricane Laura. And Hurricane Delta struck on October 9, making landfall just 10 miles from where Laura did.
As Zeta approached this week, about 3,600 people still were displaced from Laura and Delta, Louisiana Gov. John Bel Edwards said.
Most of those evacuees were from Laura, and were spread among six hotels in New Orleans, the governor’s office said.
Billy Ewing, 71, has been living in hotels in New Orleans since Laura damaged his Lake Charles apartment. Ewing uses a wheelchair and said the trauma of being displaced has changed him.
“It’s one (storm) after the other. We’re just a target. I told my friend they’re zeroing in on us. They’re looking for us,” Ewing said this week, before Zeta hit. “And we can’t control it. What’s the matter right now is we can’t control anything. I’m not in control of what my status is. I’m not in control of where I live.”
Deadly Laura destroyed parts of the power grid
