No way out of 73 west bound

We hit a bit of a road block on our way to Taylor's Landing and Belle Oaks. There is a very large barge resting across both East and Westbound lanes down HWY 73. Everything in that area is pretty well torn up. On the J.D. Murphy side of 73, the small neighborhood, on 73 and Portland Street, all but two houses were almost completely underwater. There are two houses in the addition that are on peers. Those houses are about 14 feet high and they probably even took in some water. Most of the people who live in that neighborhood are camping out, waiting for the water to receed and they are there to protect their belongings. It was not a pretty sight. Everything from cattle herds to aligators to birds and fish were killed during the storm. Debris is everywhere. The smell was awful as well.

Also, heading down north bound HWY 69, there are at least two hour waits for gasoline at Wal-Mart.

We will post more later.

Mike Tobias, Cody Pastorella/Port Arthur News