Taking on New Adventures

The winds and rains started kicking up late Wednesday night. Pretty normal for a storm but started fairly quickly compared to some of the storms I’ve covered in the past.

Our first live shot was at 11pm local time, so we got set up around 9:30pm. We started in an area outside the main doors of the hotel that was somewhat covered for the camera and light. Martin, my reporter for the storm, would stand in the elements as long as it was safe.

After a few hours, we made our way into the parking deck next door, since it was full concrete and we knew we’d be safer there. The winds definitely kicked up a notch so we made the decision to move inside.

After 2 lives from the garage, security came by and forced us into the hotel for safety reasons. We were actually ok and felt safe in the garage but didn’t want to upset security so went inside.

We quickly set up the live shot from the lobby and while the windows behind the front desk bowed due to the high winds, went live twice from the lobby. After that, the eye of the storm started making its way in to Lake Charles and we made our way outside to the garage again to set up our shot.

We spent the next 5 hours in the garage doing live shots and trying to stay as much out of the elements as we could. Finally, at 7:15 am, we were told to go to sleep.

Overall, the winds were the worst I’d ever been in. Even in the shelter of the garage, we were pounded with winds and rains. Let me tell you, the rain drops felt like little pellets hitting my legs. And the wind gusts were really wild as it just swirled around.

I’m glad we made it through the night with no injuries. And even though the power went out, we lucked out with our hotel as the Golden Nugget had a generator and we were at least able to see as we walked through the hotel overnight.

It definitely was a horrible storm and I’ll get into the damage in the next blog. But overall, feel very lucky we were able to be at a secure hotel and have the generator to keep the lights on.

However, the one thing that seems to happen often in hurricanes is the lack of water. The entire city of Lake Charles was without water starting overnight Wednesday into Thursday.

What does that mean? No running water (duh) but also no water to flush toilets. This is why we fill up bathtubs and sinks when possible and every bucket you can find.

Unfortunately I was unable to keep the sinks and bathtub in my room filled due to the stoppers not fully stopping. But I was able to save up enough water for 1 flush. I waited until the last minute to do that but this is real life when covering a storm!

Next blog will focus on the damage and how we get around and what we cover in the aftermath of a storm.