Already the media has begun to focus on Rita and has all but stopped reporting on Katrina. They will continue to focus on New Orleans due to the levee breaches but other than that, coverage is at a stand still.
It seems all eyes are on Texas. While Texas did get a considerable amount of damage, once again so did Louisiana. Reports from Lake Charles are sketchy. It did receive a great deal of flooding in many areas and there is significant electrical damage. The only report of any major road damage is the I-10 overpass in Iowa [Pronounced eye-oh-way, they have a running joke that eye-oh-wah is the state and eye-oh-way is the city]. If the report I have is correct it is the Hwy 165 overpass that was lifted and set down on I-10. Should be easy to fix but still causes some problems.
Cameron, Vermillion and Iberia parishes have significant flooding. What is interesting about this is that Vermillion made it through the storm surge OK. Some residents returned and then flooding occurred and they became in need of rescue. Many areas that have never had flooding, even after Audrey and Lilly, are flooded. Video is starting to show up showing the cows and horses up to their heads in water. Most of Cameron was evacuated but it appears that many residents in Vermillion did not.
Lafayette is just north of Vermillion Parish and was hit hard by Lilly. For what ever reason, it seems to have been spared by Rita. Some power outage and trees down but nothing significant. There are good pictures from many of the affected parishes on the KATC website.
Jefferson Davis Parish is not Jefferson Parish. Look this one up on a map. Any 8th grade Louisiana student had to learn all 64 LA Parishes. It appears that when the LA State Government ordered the mandatory evacuation, they mistakenly said Jefferson instead of Jefferson Davis. Scared the crap out of the Jefferson Parish residents. Jefferson Davis is east of Calcasieu Parish (Lake Charles) and is and north of Cameron Parish. The southern cities (Lake Arthur not Port Arthur, TX) took a beating. Jennings has some water and no power but looks OK. Some of my company's state servers are in Jennings and they have been on generator power since Friday night. Since it was the closest place that had power it has become a makeshift State Police headquarters.
Baton Rouge did well all things considered. Some power outage and some trees down but Katrina culled most of the weak trees and power poles. Our house had a few flickers but power never was down for more than a couple minutes. Glad we had a generator plus food and water but even happier not to need to use them. Restaurants and grocery stores are having a hard time getting supplies since I-10 in both directions (closed in Lake Charles and New Orleans). I-12, I-49, I-55 and I-59 remain open. Gas isn't a problem and prices seem to be around $2.55/gallon. Many stores stayed open until their normal closing time Friday night and were open regular hours on Saturday. Ones without power on Saturday had issues but things are close to normal today.
Refugee Bowl 2005 - there were no LA College Games on Saturday to keep people amused. We ended up having a bunch of friends over to watch the USC vs. U of Oregon game Saturday night. A few of the people were displaced New Orleans residents and some were out of town residents in town to help family with cleanup. Much food and drinks were consumed and it was fun to be with friends to forget about reality for an evening. I realize that college football has little to do with rescuing hurricane victims, but with events of the last month, people need a mental break.
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