Should Republicans go ahead and add Supreme Court Justices to head off Democrats

The wrath of Rita in Louisiana

Lafayette Advertiser:

With tree-snapping winds and drenching rains, Hurricane Rita umbered ashore at the Louisiana-Texas line overnight Saturday, swamping coastal parishes with high storm surges.

Rita made landfall as a Category 3 storm near Sabine Pass, Texas, packing 110 mph winds. The winds pushed several feet of water - forecasters say it's unclear now just how much - onto low-lying areas, inundating large chunks of Cameron, Vermilion and Iberia parishes.

Across southwest Louisiana, the storm left destruction in its wake. Extensive wind damage was seen in Lake Charles, while the town of Delcambre was almost completely submerged.

In Cameron Parish, the closest to where the storm made landfall, it was unclear what damage would be found once officials were able to enter.

There were no reports of fatalities Saturday, but in a haunting replay of last month's Hurricane Katrina, residents who didn't evacuate Vermilion Parish had to be plucked from their rooftops by boat and helicopter, as floodwaters rose as quickly as a foot per hour.

At least 150 people were rescued in Vermilion Parish alone, said Police Juror Wayne Touchet. Even late into the evening, crews still struggled to reach the stranded.

Ashley Couvillon of Cow Island, daughter of Sheriff Mike Couvillon, said there was a foot and a half of water in her family's rural Vermilion Parish home Saturday.

"Further down in Forked Island, water is completely over the roofs of some of my family's houses," she said. "The church is full of water. All of our cattle are floating."

...

Across Acadiana, trees were snapped, power lines downed and some streets flooded. The Vermilion River crested late Saturday at four feet above the 10-foot flood stage.

...

In addition to being a shelter for evacuees, the Cajundome became home to a temporary medical center and members of the Army's 82nd Airborne Division. But everything had to be housed in the Cajundome's Convention Center because windows atop the main arena busted, leaking water inside.

"We've got water damage all over the place," said Cajundome Director Greg Davis. "We were not planning on using (the arena) as a point of evacuation until we were able to clean up all the mess."

The storm's fury took some by surprise. Jerry Colley's front porch was crushed by a 40-foot-tall oak tree.

"Everything was fine, the electricity was running, it was beautiful," Colley said, looking at the damage. "And then ba-boom! It just sounded like a branch fell on the roof and then I looked out toward the front and, man, it was something."

I hope someone got a picture of the floating cows. This local report is much metter than the reports on CNN and other outlets and at lest they know how to spell Vermilion.